It was late afternoon when a nearly identical pair of elflings burst through the door of the chief of staff’s offices. They marched up to the head advisor’s desk, much to the amusement of Erestor and his assistant, and proceeded to make an attempt to toss a lasso around their father's chief staff member. When that failed, Elladan simply held one end as Elrohir walked around Erestor, still in his chair and now pretending to ignore them.

“We are pirates. You now are our prisoner,” Elrohir explained to him. “Arrrghh.”

“You have to come with us,” added Elladan.

“Ú-chenion Sindarin,” replied Erestor.

“Yes, you do! You understand it very well,” pouted Elrohir.

“You have to come with us,” repeated Elladan, this time in Westron.

“I am sorry, I do not speak your Westron-“ before he could finish, Elrohir was growling in frustration and Elladan was now the one pouting.

“Ada says we have to leave him and nana alone,” said Elladan. “So we came to play with you instead, Uncle Erestor.”

“I have work to do,” answered Erestor. “Play with your Uncle Fin. He is around here somewhere, and always looking for an avoidance from work.”

Elladan was about to protest, but Elrohir yanked the rope back. “Fine,” muttered Elrohir, “but we wanted to play with you.”

The twins did not see the sad look in Erestor’s eyes as they left. Melpomaen cleared his throat and said, “Master Erestor, if you would like, I can finish transcribing for you.”

Thinking about this for a moment, Erestor shook his head. “No, I need to finish these myself, thank you.”

Several minutes went by before the doors were opened once again. “Melpomaen, dear friend,” said Lindir, another young elf of the house, “I have something that you simply must look at!” He was accompanied by Rumil, a younger elf from Lothlorien who was being tutored in Imladris.

“Oh? What?” queried Melpomaen as his chair was pulled back by Rumil. Lindir took hold of his arm and hoisted him from his seat, swiftly leading him to the hall.

“Something most marvelous; you must see it with your own eyes!” Lindir said, and before Erestor could object to the disturbance, the three of them- two rogues and his helper- were all gone, and the door left ajar.

Narrowing his eyes and thinking something to be well out of place, Erestor stood and walked to the door to shut it. He had not expected to have his wrist seized when his hand gripped the door handle.

It took Glorfindel only a few seconds to bind Erestor’s hands behind his back, with the twins gleefully squealing about it as they hopped up and down.

“Now you really are our prisoner!” exclaimed a delighted Elrohir. Looking up at Glorfindel, the young one asked, “Should we gag him before we make him walk the plank?”

“Do not dare,” warned Erestor as Glorfindel began to smirk.

Snorting, Glorfindel took hold of one of the toy swords Elladan had been holding. Lifting the wooden ‘blade’ against Erestor’s throat, he said, “I do not think you are in much of a position to demand what we pirates do do and do not do.”

“Is that a fact?” asked Erestor, hands hidden in the long sleeves of his robes as he worked to untie the knots.

“Aye, it is,” answered Glorfindel.

“Huh. Boys,” said Erestor, looking down at the celebrating elflings. The twins stopped their dancing about and looked up. “How would you like to see how to really take someone prisoner?”

Before Glorfindel has a chance to realize what was going on, his sword had been knocked from his hands, and his arms bound- tightly bound, even- behind his back. “If you want to truly capture someone, you must make sure the knots are tight enough so that they can not untie them while bound. Else, ‘tis useless.”

“You must be really, really good at being a pirate to be able to get out of Glorfindel’s knots and tie your own,” complimented Elladan as he and his brother admired Erestor’s work.

“That was neat,” added Elrohir.



“Actually, removing the knots is not all that difficult,” spoke Glorfindel, in a rather bored sort of voice. “You just need to be very nimble with your fingers.”

“These knots look like the ones you use on the horse reigns when you tie them yourself, Uncle Erestor,” remarked Elladan.

Elrohir was about to agree with his brother when he had a sudden thought. “Oh! We should gallop to the stables and see if we could ride a pony!”

“Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop!” the pair sang out as they galloped themselves down the hallway.

“Ah, to be young again,” mused Glorfindel as he watched them go. Frowning when he realized his wrists were still tied together, and frowning even more when he watched Erestor walk back to his desk, he said, “Are you going to untie me?”

“Oh.” Erestor sat down and folded his hands, resting his chin upon them. “I once heard someone say that removing knots is not all that difficult,” he said innocently. “I simply assumed-“ Erestor paused as the clip-clopping noises grew louder again, and the twins jumped back into the room.

“That was our dismount,” explained Elladan.

“It was lovely,” complimented Erestor.

“We are going to play horse-riding pirates,” Elrohir shouted, looking nearly ready to burst with happiness. “Elladan came up with it! We need a prisoner.”

With a small smirk, Erestor motioned toward Glorfindel. “Look! I just happen to have one you can use!”

“Erestor...” Glorfindel hissed warningly, but the twins did not hear him.

“Yay, Glorfindel’s our prisoner!” Elrohir said, clapping. As Elladan led Glorfindel out of the room, Elrohir could be heard asking, “Should we gag him before we make him walk the plank?”