Ecthelion ran across the field, clutching something by a string as he flew past Thranduil. The blonde Elfling crossed his arms and waited for his darker haired friend to return, which he did. Ecthelion's eyes shone with excitement as he held out his prize.

"Look what I found!" he squealed with excitement. It was then that the blonde realized what Ecthelion held was not something on a string, but something on a tail.

"Is it dead?" Thranduil asked, stepping back. It reeked, and it looked a bit too dirty for something that was still alive.

"Of course it's dead," Ecthelion said, flicking the body of the mouse with the fingers of his other hand. "But it sure looks alive, doesn't it?"

"It looks dead. That is why I asked if it was dead."

Ecthelion shook the mouse by the tail. "Definitely dead!" he announced happily. "Now, what to do with it..."

"I don't think you can do anything with it, Ecthelion. It is dead," Thranduil reminded him, folding his arms once more. "If it is dead and can not be eaten, it is fit only to throw to the crows."

Twirling the tail so that the mouse spun in his fingers, Ecthelion looked around the gardens, trying to decide what to do with his find. "If one of us had a sister, we could put it in her blankets, and when she found it, she would scream in fright!" Ecthelion said gleefully.

Thranduil frowned. "I don't have a sister, and neither do you."

"I said 'IF'." Ecthelion started to swing the mouse back and forth, round and round, and Thranduil wondered with morbid curiosity how long the tail would hold up to the abuse before it would break. "Ah! I know! That little elleth with the hair of silver and gold, she's always prancing around and telling everyone how pretty she is," said Ecthelion disdainfully.

"Oh, I know!" Thranduil stuck his tongue out at the thought. "She beat my cousin in a foot race during the last Day of Sport. If she wasn't so pretty, I'd think her an elf wearing a dress. She's trouble, too," he relayed to Ecthelion. "When we were up in the sitting tree, she said we should make her the queen of it. And when we said she couldn't be, because we voted and I was the tallest and strongest and I was to be king, she complained that she was not given equal op-por-tu-ni-ties," he recalled, scrunching up his face at the thought of a queen of the trees.

"It is settled then," nodded Ecthelion, walking purposefully toward the path that would lead them to the place where the little elleth lived.

Thranduil watched Ecthelion walk off, and then scampered after him. "What is settled, then?" he asked.

"That you will put this mouse down the back of her dress," Ecthelion said simply.

"Not I!" Thranduil stood in front of Ecthelion, effectively stopping them. "You found it!"

"Precisely." Ecthelion detoured around Thranduil and continued on the path. "I did the hard part, all you need to do is put it down her dress."

Stomping his foot, Thranduil followed Ecthelion once again. "I am not putting it down her dress."

"Yes, you are," Ecthelion said.

"No, I am not," said Thranduil.

"Why are you still following me, then?"

Thranduil's mouth twitched as he sought an answer. Finally, the elfling said, "Because you would do a terrible job sneaking up on her, and it would be a waste of a good dead mouse." With that, Thranduil snatched the poor animal from Ecthelion's grasp and approached the gate to the house where the little elleth lived.

Pushing the gate open slowly, Thranduil caught sight of his prey near a ledge, trying to talk a cat down from it. The cat did not seem convinced of the elleth's words, and sat with one leg straight in the air, cleaning his belly, every now and then giving her some hope by looking at her before stretching into a more suitable position on his perch.

Creeping up behind the elleth, Thranduil controlled his breathing as he approached, one hand holding the mouse at just the right level, the other arm extended to grasp the back of her dress. Just as he was at the right spot, the cat was suddenly interested in what was going on. It sat up at attention, and Thranduil froze.

"Here, kitty! Come, kitty! Here, nice kitty!" The elleth began to coax the cat once more with greater enthusiasm as it padded toward her. "What are you watching, kitty?" she asked as the cat stopped and licked his lips.

Thranduil knew exactly what the cat was watching and wasted no further time. As the cat sprang from the ledge, Thranduil hopped forward and jerked back the dress, dumping the mouse. He had planned on a hasty retreat, but was knocked over due to his own lack of balance and the force of being pounced by the cat.

"Aiya!!!" the elleth stumbled around, slapping at her back. She hopped around, floundering about, until the dead mouse fell to the ground. Grabbing it in her hand, she looked first at the deceased rodent, and then at the little elf that was on the ground. The cat was now rubbing the elleth's legs and purring, but she didn't much seem to notice as she tackled the elf as he tried to get up.



"Orodreth! Angrod! Come quick, little sister's beating another poor little elf!" laughed Aegnor as he ran past the kitchen and out of the house. Orodreth snickered and tossed his book onto the nearby table, following after his younger brothers as they went into the front yard.

Orodreth reached into the fray and pulled the young elf out of harm's way while Aegnor and Angrod each took hold of one of their little sister's arms. "Steady now, Nerwen, what are you trying to do?"

Breaking away from one, but not both brothers, the elleth shook her empty fist at them. "Don't call me that!"

"I'll call you Artanis when you act like a lady, and Nerwen when you claw around in the dirt like a gopher!" laughed Aegnor. "Lo, what is this? A new pet? I thought you wanted the kitty-cat." He pulled the mouse, which was looking deader and deader, from her hands and held it out to Orodreth.

Orodreth took hold of it, one hand firmly on the shoulder of the little elf, who was standing rather regally with his arms crossed before him, despite being dirty and sporting a split lip. "Cats should be taking care of these. Someone likely brought it into the yard," he said, his eyes wandering to the elf. "You're Oropher's son, aren't you?"

The elfling did not answer, continuing to stand proud and erect. Orodreth gave his brothers a sly look. "Definitely Oropher's son," he concluded. "Shall I ask what the matter was of this mouse?" He looked to his sister now, who was still being restrained by her brothers.

"He dropped it down my dress!" she said, pointing accusingly.

Orodreth nodded. "I'll see to it his father has him punished for it."

Thranduil growled, "She tried to make me eat it."

Orodreth looked at his sister, and when she turned bright red, he amended his statement. "I'll see to it your fathers punish you both. Come along, I shall take you home," said Orodreth, turning Thranduil toward the path.

"And never come here again!" shouted Artanis. "Some king you'll be, dropping dead mice down the dresses of elleths!"

"Some queen you'll be!" he shouted back. "Screaming because of a little dead mouse!"

"You know," Aegnor said to Angrod, "they may just be smitten with one another. I've not seen her hit that hard before, nor have I known him to do something so vile. Perhaps it is like that time you left the snake on the pillow of, oh, what was her name? They might just be in love."

"Ew!" came the response from both elflings.

Near the gate, Ecthelion stood peering around at the scene, and could not help but shout out, "Thranduil loves Artanis! Artanis loves Thranduil!"

Without a second thought, Thranduil broke away from his keeper, and Artanis from hers moments later, both of them running after the giggling dark haired elfling.