This was originally going to explain Glóin's particular dislike of Legolas, but it was going to be quite lengthy, so I split the chapter into two, so this chapter is more like a gap filler which I had fun playing with…

Disclaimer: I own nothing but that of my own creation.

A Dwarvish Arrival – Chapter 2

The throne room of Aragorn II, son of Arathorn, Elfstone, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor, King Elessar Telcontar, King of the Reunited Kingdom, Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North, et cetera, was less hectic than it had been recently, but it still kept Aragorn, Arwen and everyone else busy.

Aragorn had just escaped to the peace of one of the side rooms that lead off from the throne room with a balcony looking out to the sea, when Legolas appeared, waiting for Aragorn to acknowledge him.

"Legolas." Aragorn greeted one of his oldest friends with a warm smile, for he had heard the door opening but not the pattering of feet, which limited the number of people who it could have been.

"Aragorn." Legolas returned the smile. The two stood in silence for a few moments.

"I am getting a sense that you are not here to exchange pleasantries." Aragorn mentioned wryly.

"You would be correct. But I am perfectly content to remain here for a while." Came the unperturbed reply.

"Which means you are avoiding something or someone." Aragorn smirked. Legolas shifted his feet slightly, confirming Aragorn's conclusion.

"Fine. Gimli's kin is here and they wish to meet you." Legolas informed him finally.

Aragorn frowned, "That is a problem?"

"Nay, not for you. I, however…" Legolas admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

Aragorn nodded in understanding, for he knew that however close the bond between Legolas and Gimli was, their respective races had a long history of, well, disliking each other, to put it simply, not helped by their love of jewels and, well, that explained quite a lot of the problems to begin with.

"No matter. I suggest you go and find either Éowyn or Arwen so that they can be introduced and it doesn't seem that you were being impolite." Aragorn proposed.

"That is a good idea." Legolas nodded, and disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. Aragorn shook his head good naturedly, and went back into his throne room, where, like Legolas had said, a large group of dwarves stood.

"Ah, Aragorn! I was wondering where the elf went off to! He didn't come back with you?" Gimli told the new King, as he approached.

"Legolas has gone to see where Éowyn and Arwen are." Aragorn stated, but when Gimli caught his eye, couldn't resist smirking slightly again, causing his friend to chuckle. The Dwarves waited patiently for Gimli to introduce everyone, whilst glaring back at anyone who dared give them a second glance.

"Aragorn, please meet the King Under The Mountain, Thorin III. King Thorin, Aragorn son of Arathorn, King Elessar." Gimli said formally, while the two kings bowed slightly to each other. Glóin noticed that everyone regardless of race met the Dwarves with respect; well the elf was proof enough of that. At that moment two more people arrived, one whom Glóin recognised as Lord Elrond, the other; a woman who shared many features with the elder elf that Glóin knew that she must be his daughter, Arwen Evenstar.

"Welcome King Thorin." Elrond said and smiled at the Dwarves as Arwen went across to stand next to her husband.

"Lord Elrond, Queen Arwen." Replied Thorin, sweeping a bow to them.

"Have you seen Legolas?" Aragorn asked Arwen, who laughed lightly at the question.

"Yes. He went down to the market to get Éowyn."

"Should I ask why you are laughing?" Gimli probed cautiously.

"Legolas-" Arwen began to explain.

"Will receive payback as soon as he turns up." Everyone turned round to see Elrond's twin sons march in, with matching expressions of annoyance and mischief of their identical faces.

"From personal experience it is best that you did not ask what happened Gimli, you do not want to be in the firing line of those three when they decide to play tricks on each other." Aragorn told the Dwarf, highly amused as Arwen and Elrond shook their heads in mock disbelief while the Dwarves took all of this in with slight confusion, and Glóin raised an eyebrow in his son's direction to see whether Gimli would explain.

"Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir have been having prank wars since we were elflings." Arwen enlightened the Dwarves.

"Who normally wins?" Thorin asked with an interested look on his face.

"No one; the wars have been going on for over two thousand years, and still there is no winner, and I do not believe there ever will be one." Came the reply from Elrond, causing everyone to laugh.

A few moments passed and then Legolas entered with Éowyn, but whereas Éowyn immediately walked over and introduced herself, Legolas caught the eyes of the twins, and bolted out of the room again with the dark haired Elves chasing after him, causing another eruption of laughter from everyone.

"I apologise for them in advance." Expressed Aragorn with a nod of agreement from Elrond.

"Don't worry, they'll stop as soon as something serious arises, such as a conference or something along those lines." Arwen told them encouragingly.

"If it is any comfort, they have grown up, they just have momentary lapses." Aragorn smirked.

"Hmm. We can always teach them Dwarvish pranks as well…" Gimli said mischievously, ignoring the un-amused glares he received from his kinsmen.

"I don't think they need any help on that front, but I'm sure that they would enjoy using them against each other." Elrond replied with a smile.

"Overlooking that slight disturbance, how was the journey here?" Aragorn asked, ever the reliable host.

"It went well, thank you. We had a spot of trouble early on, but after that it was a relatively peaceful excursion." Answered Thorin politely as they made their way into another side chamber with chairs and lounges.

"No one was injured?" Gimli questioned, seeking to be reassured as everyone sat down, Gimli next to his father and uncles.

"Nay, a few cuts and abrasions, but nothing more than that."

There was a lull of silence, interrupted by Legolas appearing once again with Elladan and Elrohir. All three were grinning, though there seemed to be no damage to any of them.

"What happened to the tricks?" Aragorn inquired.

"We chased Legolas to the market, but didn't want to cause any damage, so we called a temporary truce." Elladan explained.

"Emphasis on the 'temporary' part…" Legolas muttered, receiving a punch on his shoulder from Elrohir as they sit down, making sure to sit on the other side of the room to the Dwarves so they did not accidently irritate them.

As soon as they had sat down, another elf appeared in the doorway, causing Legolas to spring up.

"Daugion!" Legolas greeted the light haired elf.

"Legolas! Long time no see. I-" Daugion was cut off by the need to duck as Elrohir threw a cushion, which soared past his head and landed on an dark haired elleth who stood directly behind Daugion.

"Ah, I apologise for that, it was Elrohir." Daugion gave as an explanation as Tauriel picked up the cushion from the floor.

"I apologise Tauriel. Daugion has better reflexes than I gave him credit for."

"It is fine Lord Elrohir, I have been hit by worse things than a rather sorry looking cushion." Tauriel responded, and having placed the cushion back down onto an armchair, she and Daugion bowed to Legolas, the twins, Lord Elrond and Arwen in respect whilst avoiding looking in the direction of the Dwarves.

"Do you know whether my father will be coming?" Legolas asked as he sat back down.

"Nay Prince Legolas, I do not know. However, it is quite possible; he spoke of perhaps making the journey here."

"We shall wait and see. Everyone, this is my cousin Daugion and Tauriel, who is the head of my father's guard. Please, sit down." Legolas gestured to the chairs and the two elves sat down, as far away from the Dwarves as possible, with barely concealed dislike of them, causing Legolas and Gimli to exchange a frustrated glance that said, "We knew this was going to happen…"

"Welcome to Minas Tirith both of you. I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, called Elessar. This is Faramir, Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien, Éomer, King of Rohan and his sister Lady Éowyn, Faramir's wife," Introduced Aragorn, gesturing to each person in turn who each received a short bow from the two elves, "This is Thorin III, King Under The Mountain and Gimli son of Glóin of the Nine Walkers." Aragorn also gestured to the Dwarves, and the Dwarves and Elves glared at each other with mutual displeasure, with an uneasy silence until Legolas glowered at Daugion and Tauriel, who gave the smallest of bows to the Dwarves.

"Why don't we separate for now, as I am sure that you all would like to change out of your travelling clothes?" Faramir suggested, sensing the clear agitation that ran through the room between the two conflicting races.

"Excellent idea, my lord." Rumîl agreed, speaking for the first time as he jumped up, signalling to his kin to do like wise.

"I will show you to your rooms." Gimli spoke, and lead his kin out of the room, leaving those remaining to breathe a slight sigh of relief before Legolas also left to show Tauriel, Daugion, and the others who had come with them, to their respective rooms.

Please review! Helpful criticism is always welcome. I promise that the next chapter will explain Glóin's attitude to Legolas, but like I said in my note earlier, I split the chapter into two separate ones.

P.S.
Daugion is a character of my own invention and he is Legolas' cousin on his father's side, hence the blond hair. I'm pretending that Thranduil had/has a sister, as it's not mentioned whether Thranduil and Legolas had any siblings.

I don't normally use characters created for the film adaptions (non-canon), but I wanted someone reasonably high up in the order of things, and Tauriel seemed to fit quite well, but since I don't think that Tolkien ever said whether Elves could have red hair (and probably just something made up for the films that makes her stand out (with the exception of Maedhros)), I'm going to go with the normal dark (probably deep brown/ black) hair of Silvan Elves.