Estel walked through the forest it was almost nightfall. He was only an hour from home. It had been too long since he had seen his family. He missed them terribly.

As soon as he had walked across the border to Rivendell, Estel had cast off the ranger as well as the names Strider and Aragorn. Shedding his seriousness and responsibilities. That side of him was never far away, but he still felt some weight being lifted off of his shoulders. He walked on enjoying the view of the forest that he had walked in so many times by now. It was fall so all the trees had orange, yellow and red leaves. He could see occasional glimpses of the sun going down through the trees.

He had been running from orcs all the way here. He had just managed to evade them when he entered the forest. He had managed to kill most of them and he was confident that the patrols around of Rivendell could take care of the rest.

Estel sighed and leaned against a tree. Ada and the twins would kill him for coming home wounded again. It wasn't serious, but still. They wouldn't see the difference. He looked down at the bandage around his arm; the wound hadn't stopped bleeding yet. The scarf he had used to wrap around it was already soaked. He had lost his provisions when the orcs had attacked him. He could feel the wound pounding, but he had tried worse things. Much worse. This wound didn't bother him much.

Even though he had lost his provisions he was sure he would get a lecture from them about not neglecting wounds. Estel sighed again. He was getting tired. It had already been three days since he had last slept. The orcs had been hunting him constantly. He had barely eaten.

Estel sighed and pushed himself away from the tree, it wouldn't get him home faster standing against the tree sighing. He staggered on.

Finally the last homely house came into sight. There were lights on inside the house. Estel took a deep breath and smiled. He continued down the path unfaltering knowing that his family was probably watching him arrive, he didn't want to worry them overly much just because of a bit lack of sleep and a minor wound.

Estel halted in front of the door. He was just about to knock when a stream of water hit him from above. He was instantly drenched to the bone. The water was ice cold. Estel staggered to the nearest pillar he leaned against it and slowly slid down to the ground. His legs weren't able to hold him up any more.

"That wasn't a very warm welcome, don't you agree brother?" Elladan's voice floated down to Estel. He looked up and saw Elladan and Elrohir standing on the balcony with a now empty barrel in their hands.

"I couldn't agree more brother." Elrohir smirked.

"Welcome home little brother." Elladan greeted. "You're late."

Estel didn't have the energy to answer back. His exhausted body couldn't cope with the shock he had just received. The shapes in front of him started to get blurry. He heard the door open and light streamed towards him from that direction. Footsteps moved towards him and a figure kneeled in front of him.

"Estel?"

Estel blinked his vision clear, "Ada." He smiled. Elrond's worried face gazed at him.

"What's wrong you're completely pale." Elrond asked worriedly.

Estel dried the water off of his face and breathed deeply. "I'm fine."

He slowly stood up supporting himself to the pillar. He almost stumbled when he let go, but Elrond grabbed hold of his arm to steady him.

Estel breathed in sharply when Elrond grabbed hold of his wound. He quickly stood straight without Elrond's support.

"Are you wounded?" Elrond asked hastily when his sharp elven hearing caught the sharp intake. When he let go of Estel the palm of his hand was spotted with blood. Elrond's eyes widened at the sight of it. He looked at Estel seeking answers but Estel was standing with his eyes closed, the deep circles under his eyes stood out starkly in his pale face.

"I would like to hear your definition of fine…" Elrond muttered, and then he looked up at the balcony where Elladan and Elrohir were standing and listening intently to everything that was happening. Expressions of guilt hung on their faces. Elrond sighed and said, "Elladan, Elrohir get down here."

At this Estel's eyes popped open, reveling the tired grey orbs underneath. "What?" He asked.

Elrond smiled at him and waved his blood-smeared hand in front of Estel's eyes. "Healing wing." He ordered at the same time Elladan and Elrohir jumped down from the balcony.

"But-" Estel was about to protest when he was swept away by the twins.

Very quickly he found himself in the healing wing.

"Take your shirt off." Elrond said and went to find the healing supplies.

Estel sighed but nevertheless went to war with all the leather straps and knots in his ragged ranger clothes.

Elladan and Elrohir soon joined him on the bed, sitting on either side of him.

"We're really sorry Estel. We should have known that you would be injured. It was stupid of us." Elladan apologized.

Estel was about to scold them jokingly, but with the amount of guilt in Elladan's voice he knew they would take it seriously. "It's okay, I'm fine. I needed a bath anyway." He smirked.

The twins were far from convinced.

"You're far from fine, and now you're drenched too. Sorry." Elrohir said.

Estel pulled off the red tunic he had under the leather jerkin. He had already shed his cloak. His sword and dagger were placed on the bed, behind him.

"What can be drenched can be dried." Estel yawned, "I'm not even that seriously injured. I just haven't slept in a while."

As he said this Elrond walked into the room. He had bandages and herbs in his arms, which he put down on the table beside them.

Elrond moved the chair over to sit opposite Estel. He quickly unwrapped the scarf Estel had tied around his arm revealing the jagged cut that ran across his arm.

"I'm fine, not seriously injured." Elrond muttered under his breath, "You've neglected this wound."

Estel sighed, "I lost all my provisions three days ago, I did all I could do with the resources I had at the time."

"What happened?" Elrond asked and started to clean the wound.

Estel told them of the last three days. How he had been pursued by orcs for three days, how he had gotten injured and how he had made it to Rivendell. In the end his voice was getting blurry and he had trouble keeping his eyes open.

Elrond finished wrapping the bandage around his arm and tied a knot. "So you haven't slept for three days?"

"…What? Oh… No I haven't." Estel said forcing his eyes open.

"How about food? Water?"

"I found a couple of streams… some berries and stuff."

Elrond groaned, "Elrohir take your brother to his room to wash and get into some dry clothes. Elladan fetch him some dinner."

"I can do it by myself." Estel protested.

"In your condition I wouldn't be surprised if you collapsed on the way to your room. Get some sleep, we can talk in the morning." Elrond hugged Estel; "…It's good to have you back my son."

"Hmm… It's good to be back. I missed you, all of you."

Half an hour later he had washed, changed and eaten. It was a wonder how he had managed to stay awake through all of it. It was probably because the twins were there to annoy him. After he had finished the soup that Elladan had brought him, which had never tasted better, he had collapsed instantly onto the bed.

The twins smiled at him and covered him with a blanket before they left the room.

Estel woke to the sound of the evening bell. He looked around confused for a moment but then remembered what had happened. He was home, after such a long time. Smiling he got out of bed. If he hurried he could make it to dinner.

Estel donned a grey tunic from his closet and then made his way through the corridors down towards the hall. When he reached those big doors, he pushed them open wincing when his wound protested.

As he stepped inside everyone around the table looked towards him. The only ones around the table were his family, Erestor and Glorfindel. There faces lit up in a smile when they saw him as he was sure his own did.

"Good evening." He greeted and sat down beside Elrohir.

"It's good to see you again Estel." Erestor said smiling.

"It's good to be back." Estel smiled back and started putting food on his plate.

"I heard that you had some trouble getting here." Glorfindel said, "I never thought that orcs would dare come so close to our borders. The days are indeed growing darker. The border patrol took care of the last orcs in the night."

"Were any of them injured?" Estel asked worried.

"No, fortunately not. You had killed enough of them to make it an easy job for the elves. Do you have any news from the rangers?"

"…Yes." Estel said hesitating. "But let us not discuss that over dinner."

"You're right, we can all met in my study later," Elrond said, "How long are you going to stay Estel?"

"I don't know yet. The rangers will send a message if they need me. I'm thinking of staying a couple of weeks if nothing happens."

Elrohir and Elladan glanced at each other. Suddenly without warning Elrohir threw his arms around Estel sending him out of the chair and onto the floor with Elrohir sprawling on top of him. Estel clenched his eyes shut for a moment after landing, because the wound on his arm was slammed against the floor. Luckily Elrohir didn't notice.

Elladan came to join them a moment later, grinning hugely at Estel. He tickled Estel a little under the chin, while Elrohir held him down. Soon giggling filled the room.

"Elladan, Elrohir." Elrond's stern voice flew through the room. Elladan and Elrohir immediately stopped and snapped their head identically up towards their father. Elrond was frowning.

"You'll end up opening his wound again."

The twins' eyes widened confirming what Elrond had thought, that they had forgot about Estel injury. Elrohir quickly got off Estel.

They immediately started to apologize, but Estel stopped them saying, "No harm done. Though are you sure you are ready for the revenge? I'm going to be here all week to get back at you." Estel smirked evilly.

Elrohir and Elladan gulped and then quickly left the room, muttering amongst themselves.

Elrond wasn't the slightest bit convinced, that Estel was fine. He was holding his arm still and seemed to have become a little pale. He quickly left his seat and went over to Estel.

As soon as Estel saw him coming towards him, he groaned. "I'm fine Ada. There's no need for you to see it."

"Humor me." Elrond said and pushed Estel down into a chair. He quickly pulled Estel's shirt off and then unwrapped the bandage. It had started bleeding again, luckily not very much. Elrond sighed and wrapped it in bandage again. "Fine, nothing is overly wrong with it."

Estel grinned and pulled his shirt on again.

Suddenly Elrond felt very dizzy, he could hear from Estel, Glorfindel and Erestor's reaction that they were feeling the same. Elladan and Elrohir came stumbling back into the room.

"Ada, what…?" They murmured confused, both of them collapsed to their knees.

Suddenly weariness overwhelmed Elrond, he felt Estel slump forward onto him, as he himself slumped to the floor.

"Poison…" Elrond whispered before blacking out.