"Halmir? Halmir, I know you are up there... and Gildor, you, too!" Celeborn watched as the branches moved just slightly. "Look, I know you are both there. Oropher said it is time for lessons, you can not say you do not know because now I have told you!"

Celeborn let his arm fall to his side and sighed. "Fine. Stay up in the tree if you want." As he began to walk back to the caves, an apple hit him square in the shoulder. "Alright, then! Come down here, cowards!"

"No one here but us squirrels!" chirped a falsetto voice.

"You are no squirrel, you are an a-- Halmir, this is the third time this week!" Celeborn stomped his foot at the ground.

"Teleporno, you look like an ass," Halmir laughed quietly. "No one at the gates can see us, so you look mad, stomping and shouting at a tree. Run along home, and leave us here, it is no skin off your hide if we do not show for classes." Picking up the apple, he threw it back into the tree.

"Stop calling me that!"

"I am sure whatever the tree said, it did not mean it." Finduilas walked up next to him and shouted for her brother and cousin to hear, "Master Oropher has cancelled philosophy due to lack of participation."

There was a not-so-very excited whoop from the tree and a snicker. "Honestly, the two of you need to grow up," scolded Celeborn. "Some of us would like to learn something instead of having to hunt for those who do not want to. Just drop the class if you do not want to be there."

"Make us, Teleporno," jeered Halmir, flinging another apple, or perhaps the same one, out of the tree.



"Alright, that is it!" Celeborn spied a large rock on the ground and picked it up. As he stepped back and made to throw it, his hand was caught, someone's fingers firmly wrapped around his own wrist.

Celeborn winced as the grip tightened and the stone fell from his palm into the hand of the elf behind him.

"I have decided," said Master Oropher in his quiet, thoughtful voice, "that we should continue our class here by this beautiful tree, where the spirit of the earth will nurture our minds, and the strength of the sky will enhance our spirits."

"And the tree?" asked Finduilas as she followed her teacher's lead and sat upon the ground.

"The tree is beautiful," he said simply, but his expression told Finduilas and Celeborn he knew exactly what was going on. Celeborn joined the other two elves in sitting on the ground.

"When I see a tree like that, I think of you, Celeborn. I think of how, when you have come of age, you will be like that tree- strong and noble, full of grace, wisdom, and knowledge." Oropher rolled the rock between his hands. "It puzzles me that you would want to throw a rock at a tree. Violence only leads to violence, or to evil. You, Celeborn, are neither violent nor evil."

"Uhm... thank you, Master Oropher," he said as the rock was handed back to him.

"You must learn to nurture all that is around you, to give back more than what you take, to take only what you need. And, to know when it is time to go back indoors." Oropher stood up quickly, and his pupils followed.

Celeborn raced to keep up with the long strides Oropher was making. "Master, what do you mean, to know when it is time to go indoors?" A raindrop hit Celeborn's nose, and another one his cheek when he looked skyward. No explanation was needed as they, and the other elves in the courtyard, ran for the cover of Doriath's caves.

"I will impart upon you one final lesson today before I release you to your own ventures," said Oropher sagely. As the guards barred the entrance, leaving two naughty elflings up in the apple tree, the philosopher said, "What goes around comes around." With that, he smiled, tapped each of them on the head, and walked down the entryway.