“Ada!”

Legs still chubby propel Legolas across the courtyard. His arms clutch an ungainly burden of leaves raked up from the forest floor. The King’s steady hand halts his forward rush and keeps the boy upright.

“Look, ada! Leaves red! Yellow! “ He struggles. “… brown. All from trees. Down! Fix now?”

Such trust in his father’s skills! There will be far worse than falling leaves his little son will have to face by and by. And so few things Thranduil will be able to fix for him.

“The trees are sleeping now. Soon they will get new leaves.”

The Eldar grew in bodily form slower than Men, but in mind
more swiftly. They learned to speak before they were one year
old; and in the same time they learned to walk and to dance, for
their wills came soon to the mastery of their bodies.
Laws and Customs of the Eldar