Disclaimer, Notes and Acknowledgements: Please refer to Chapter 1

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Chapter 5 – A Lesson Well Learned

Legolas groaned and shifted slightly on the bed. The throbbing pain in his hand had subsided and so had the aches in his joints. He still felt uncomfortably warm, but it was to be expected as his body was still fighting the lingering effects of the infection. Forcing his eyes open, the elf squinted at the blurry image of his friend's face. Several seconds later, he finally managed to bring his vision into focus and found himself staring into a pair of anxious silver-green eyes. The woodland prince gave the human a small smile in attempt to put him at ease and to wordlessly let him know that he did not blame him for what happened. At least not until he heard of the human's error in his diagnosis and suffered the side effects of the anti-toxin drink that Elladan was about to shove down his throat.

"How do you feel?" Aragorn asked gently as he watched his friend fighting his way to consciousness from the sleeping draught.

"Better," the elf replied as he tried to push himself up from the bed, hissing in pain as he accidentally put pressure on his injured hand. Legolas stared at his bandaged hand, dumbfounded. Not only his finger but his entire hand was wrapped down to the wrist in the white linen. "What happened?" he asked as Aragorn propped him up with several pillows.

"It's a long story that I'm sure Estel would love to tell you," Elladan winked at Aragorn and earned himself death glare from his youngest brother. The Noldo elf chuckled and handed the foul-smelling tea to the human. "Give this to him and make sure he drinks plenty of water after that."

Legolas wrinkled his nose at the greenish-brown liquid when Aragorn pressed the cup into his uninjured hand. "What is this?" he turned his head away from the stench, trying not to gag.

"It will help draw the poison out from your body," answered Elladan with a calm voice.

"What poison?" Legolas was truly confused now. When was he poisoned?

Elrohir grinned mischievously. "All will be revealed in Estel's tale." Stealing a glance at the man, the dark haired elf

Legolas raised an elegant eyebrow at the elder twin's comment. "What's with the water part?"

"You'll need water to…" Elladan paused and turned to look at his twin, seeking aid to explain the situation subtly to the unfortunate prince.

"To flush out the remaining poison in your body," Elrohir added helpfully.

That was an ingenious statement.

The older twin smiled inwardly. He couldn't have said it any better. "Right. This is very important. At least half of the pitcher." Elladan nodded in agreement as his elven brother tried to suppress a snicker with a rather fake cough. Then, he grabbed the clean basin and shoved it into Aragorn's hands. "You'll be needing this," he said as he shared a sympathetic smile with Elrohir. With that, the twins made their retreat hastily from the room, closing the door behind them to allow the two friends some privacy when the inevitable happen.

Aragorn frowned at the twin's antics and dropped the basin carelessly beside the bed. His brother's actions sometimes left him completely baffled. With a shake of his head, the human poured out a cup of water and urged Legolas to swallow the horrible tasting draught before asking him to drink the water immediately.

Legolas winced as the tea burned his throat all the way down to his stomach. He suppressed the urge to gag as he was then made to drink a cup of water, but before he could do anything else, Aragorn returned with a second cup of water and forced it into him.

o-o-o-o-o

Elladan and Elrohir stood outside the closed door and shared a knowing grin.

"I'm certain Estel will never forget the properties of Cyprius trees any time soon." Elrohir observed as he leaned casually against the wall.

"Too bad he is going to learn this lesson the hard way." Elladan winced as muffled sounds of gagging and retching flitted into their sensitive ears from beyond the closed door.

"Yes," the younger of the two elves agreed with a cringe, "at Legolas's expense I'm afraid."

More sounds of retching were heard before someone spat a string of rather undignified curses, followed quickly by a tirade of profuse apologies. Aragorn was obviously not amused by the outcome of his brothers' remedy, but at this moment, he felt more apologetic rather than irritated.

"Do you think Legolas will ever forgive him?" asked Elrohir. He hated to see an honest mistake do damage to years of friendship.

Elladan lifted an eyebrow, a perfect imitation of his father's expression when he was asked an obviously silly question. "Of course he will," and with a short pause, he added mischievously, "perhaps in a century or two." He knew that Legolas would eventually forgive the human but it definitely would not happen in the next few hours. He would be feeling too miserable to be in a forgiving mood.

"Very funny," Elrohir snorted indignantly and swatted at his brother's arm, although there was no true anger in his voice, knowing well that his brother was only teasing him.

Elladan pushed himself off the wall lazily and motioned for his twin to follow. They would leave their human brother to explain his error to their woodland kin and suffer whatever consequences that was to come. At least that would teach him to pay attention to what his elders were telling him. Smiling to himself, Elladan ushered his brother into the Hall of Fire for some well earned rest, assured that Aragorn would be able to handle things from there. The next morning would prove to be another challenge, for they would need to rehydrate the poor elven prince and get some solid food into him to build up his strength. But after tonight, Legolas might never want to see food again.

o-o-o-o-o

Elladan balanced a tray of food in his hands as he and Elrohir approached the healing wing. When they reached the door leading to the room where the prince of Mirkwood currently occupied, Elrohir depressed the handle and pushed open the door quietly. He did not bother knocking, for he did not want to risk waking either Aragorn or Legolas. Judging by what happened yesterday, they knew that the two friends would have had a rough night and they deserved whatever rest that they could get. The twins had decided to let their brother sleep in, even though it was almost midday.

Elrohir poked his head into the room and was not surprised to find the human dozing off in a chair beside Legolas' bed. The man sat slumped in the chair with his head bent forward, his chin touching his chest. What amused Elrohir is the object that was clutched against the man's body. On Aragorn's lap lay a basin – thankfully a clean one – and the human held it as if it were some precious treasure. Shaking his head with a small smile, he motioned Elladan to enter and, before waiting for his twin to set down the tray, he proceeded to relieve the sleeping man of his "treasure". Even though he tried to be gentle, Aragorn woke with a start and sprang to his feet in an instant. Still groggy from sleep, the man staggered and crashed into Elladan. Being knocked off course, Elladan stumbled forward with the tray of food still balanced precariously on his hands. Fortunately, the nimble elf managed to regain his footing before having an impromptu meeting with the floor.

"Sorry," the man mumbled an apology as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, one hand still clutching the basin securely. "I thought Legolas needed…" Aragorn trailed off without finishing the sentence. He didn't have to because the twins knew very well what the elven prince might have needed.

Elladan threw his brother a small smile as he set the tray down on the table as Elrohir promptly relieved the human of the basin and placed it at the foot of the bed.

"We brought you breakfast," announced Elladan cheerily. "Come, eat something, for I don't think you had a proper dinner yesterday." The elf winked at Aragorn, and the ranger made a face at him, drawing a light chuckle from the dark haired being.

Stifling a yawn, the man made his way to the table and sank into a chair. He poked around the food until he came upon a piece of freshly baked bread. Scooping up a generous amount of honey, he spread it over his breakfast before sinking his teeth into it. "Mmm…" he let out a contented sigh as the sweet nectar filled his mouth.

The twins pulled up a pair of chairs and joined their brother at the table, watching in amazement as he gobbled down another four slices of bread, three pieces of ham, a bowl of soup, an apple, two pears and one huge chunk of cheese.

Silently, Elladan wondered where all the food had gone to. He didn't think a person's stomach could fit so much, especially in the morning.

"What?" Aragorn mumbled over a mouthful of food when he realized that Elladan was staring at him with a bewildered look.

"Oh nothing… Just amusing myself watching you eat." The elf shared a grin with his twin, who choked on the water that he was drinking as he tried to stifle a snort.

"So tell me," Aragorn continued casually as he popped a strawberry into his mouth, "did you do it to punish me for my incompetence?"

Elrohir raised an eyebrow at the question. "What?" he asked, not quite sure what the ranger was referring to.

"That ‘thing' you gave Legolas yesterday." Aragorn set down the napkin that he was using to wipe his hands as he spoke.

"No!" Elrohir exclaimed, a little shocked that his brother would think that they did it intentionally. "Of course not! We would never deliberately hurt any of you!"

Aragorn grinned at his elven brother's reaction. "I thought so, too." He reached over and punched Elrohir in the arm playfully. "But what happened?" Curious minds wanted to know.

"The anti-toxin we gave him was very potent. It acted almost instantaneously as it settled in his stomach by drawing the poison out from his blood." Elladan explained patiently, and Elrohir continued where his brother left off.

"But because of the corrosive nature, we needed to remove it as soon as possible so as to minimize the damage done to his body. Believe us, brother, that we would not have resolved to this if we had any other choice."

Aragorn nodded. At last he understood the cause of Legolas' sickness.

The elf had continued to suffer from painful cramps and dry heaves for hours even after he had emptied his stomach. It had taken the human almost all night to settle the exhausted elf into a fitful rest. Only about an hour ago did the elven prince finally drift into a more restful sleep, but the experience had left him drained beyond belief.

TBC…