Not Again?!

Chapter 1

     The relative silence of the Greenwood was broken by the soft plopping of horse hooves and a low teasing voice.

     "Daro, Elladan!" came a mirthful cry.  "Do not tell her of that story!  It was your idea to go over the pass that eve!"  Three horses came into view, trotting along the Old Forest Road.  Two bore tall elven males, alike in appearance.  Both were slender and fair-faced, with dark hair flowing over their shoulders, and twinkling grey eyes.  The other horse had a young elleth seated on it, her light carrot hair swept back in a long braid.  She was regarding both of her companions with stern grey eyes.

     "Must you speak so much?  The whispers of the trees are enough for me.  I do not need to be regaled with your adventures and foolish tales."  Her horse snorted, seeming to agree with her.

     "You wound me, my lady," said one of the male elves, pressing a hand over his heart.  "We wish only to keep you from being bored."

     The elleth shook her head.  "We are not a dozen leagues from my Elvenking's halls, and yet you have exhausted my patience.  I wish to listen to the trees; they will warn me of any danger approaching, unlike you two!"

     "We are not that loud!" exclaimed the other elf.  He shook his head mock ruefully.  "You are lucky to have us, Lady Ioreth.  The path to Imladris is wrought with danger of many sorts.  If not for us, you could find yourself trapped in a deep hole with no way out!"

     "I find that hard to believe," the aforementioned elf snorted, very un-ladylike.  They rode in silence for a minute more, then she glanced over at the pair with a slightly confused look.  "I am embarrassed to say, but I have forgotten who is who.  Will you kindly reintroduce yourselves?"

     They exchanged an amused look.  "Fear not, lady," said one.  "Even our father cannot tell us apart when we wear matching tunics, which we only do when we want to confuse others.  This only happened to be a day we did that."

     "You can differentiate us by our weapons," the other ellon suggested.  "I am Elrohir, and I have the twin swords besides my bow."

     "I am Elladan, and I have the single sword," said the first.  He patted the unstrung bow strapped to his saddlebags.  "I also have a bow."

     "Ah," said Ioreth, nodding.  "Thank you, that will help."  They lapsed into silence again, the two ellons occasionally looking at each other and seeming to have silent conversations.  After another league or so had been traversed, Elladan leaned over to his brother and whispered, "I will tell her of the time you tangled yourself in a harness the first time Ada got you to hook up a horse to a wagon."

     Elrohir smirked.  "If you do, I will tell of your little 'adventure' after your horse ran away when the yrch attacked us in Emyn Muil."

     The older twin frowned and sat back on his horse in defeat.  "Fine.  But what to break the tedium then?"

     "A horse race?" his brother suggested mischievously.

     "Absolutely not," Elladan said firmly.  "The last time we did that, I 'mysteriously' was dumped into the Enchanted River and slept for three days."

     "Ah, ah," Elrohir protested, releasing his loose grip on the horse's reins to waggle a finger, "now that was an accident."

     "I have only your word for that."

     "As you keep reminding me."

     "What are you talking about now?" sighed Ioreth, reluctantly breaking her whispered monologue with her dun mare, and glancing up at the twins.