AN: Set immediately after "My Brother's Keeper." Legolas is equivalent of 14 in human years. Written to celebrate the publication of my YA fantasy, Deep as a Tomb (Loose Leaves Press).  Read, review, fanfic it, whatever! Enjoy, I hope. -- daw

ETA: My apologies for being slow with this. I'm working on some original stuff too, and, well, the election. I hope this chapter is a useful distraction.

Chapter 4. Playing with Fire

Eilian strode away from the crowd at the makeshift archery range, sucking on his skinned knuckles and then shaking his hand. What had got into everyone tonight? The last thing he needed was for his father to hear he'd been in a brawl, and Thranduil was unlikely to be impressed by Eilian claiming he'd just been breaking up the fight, even though that was true. Eilian could hear him now: "You should have taken yourself out of the situation, Eilian." All right. Fine, Eilian thought, jaw tightening. He'd go some place else, though if his father really wanted him to stay out of trouble, he'd let Eilian go back to his patrol.

The narrow trail turned, and he saw the glow of the fire ahead. He picked up his pace, spurred on by energy that had been pent up for too long.

"Careful now!" someone shouted. Calólas, Eilian thought, not someone usually given to care. Good, that would be fun.

He emerged from the trees to see a slim form leaping over the fire, arms out, front leg reaching for a landing. The sight was so unexpected that it took two heartbeats for Eilian to recognize the jumper as Legolas. Eilian jammed to a halt as everything in his body seemed to stop working. Then Legolas landed, caught his balance, and triumphantly stretched his arms overhead. Everyone clapped, as Legolas wheeled and ran back to a knot of other younglings, including Turgon and Annael and, surprisingly, a Mannish boy and girl.

Turgon skipped away from the others to the place where anyone fire jumping here always started. Eilian moved faster though, and closed his hand firmly around Turgon's arm. Turgon jerked before his eyes widened. He opened his mouth, but Eilian snarled, "Shut it, Turgon."

The watchers all hooted. "Don't be such a nanny, Eilian!" Calólas shouted. "Let him jump."

Eilian paused in dragging Turgon out of danger long enough to snap, "If any of them is so much as singed, I will break you in two."

Calólas laughed, but the laugh shook and everyone else avoided Eilian's eyes, as if that would hide them.

Eilian let go of Turgon's arm only when he arrived at the spot where Legolas stood with his arms crossed and his jaw thrust out. Annael had the sense to study a nearby maple as if he'd never seen one before, but the Mannish pair both regarded him with wide eyes. The boy looked to be whatever the Mannish equivalent of Legolas's age was, but the painfully thin girl, Eilian now saw, was older, probably nearing adulthood. The whole group of them smelled of half-frightened excitement.

"Back off, Eilian," Legolas said in Sindarin.

"What are you doing out of the palace?" Eilian asked in the same tongue. He had no more desire to chew his brother out in words their guests would understand than Legolas had to have his dignity stripped from him.

"Adar asked me to play host for Hoth and Jardin," Legolas said, having the nerve to sound smug.

"Not to take them here, I'll bet." Eilian pointed at Turgon and Annael. "You three are all too young. Go back to the feast, and take your guests." He snatched away the mug of wine Turgon was taking from Annael and emptied the contents over a nearby bush with a gentle splash that was nearly drowned out by Turgon's squawk of protest.

"How old were you the first time you fire jumped?" Legolas demanded.

"We're talking about you, not me." Eilian tried to keep his face blank, but Legolas's snort meant he knew Eilian too well.

"This is your brother?" the girl--Jardin?--interrupted, and Eilian realized he and Legolas were being rude by speaking so long in a language their guests didn't understand. She'd even heard her name and must wonder if they were talking about her. "We saw you at the archery." Jardin smiled. "That shot was impressive."

"So was Legolas's jump," Annael murmured in Common.

Eilian caught the frown on Legolas's face. Surely his little brother hadn't jumped to impress a girl. He was too young for that. A memory of his first jump popped without invitation into Eilian's head. There'd been a girl, though he couldn't remember which one.

"I think I could jump that," Hoth said. Legolas glared at him, and Eilian instantly felt better. He liked the idea of Legolas competing with Hoth much better than him being old enough to think about girls.

"No, you can't," Eilian said firmly. "You're not allowed until you're older. So you all have to leave."

"No one else said we weren't allowed," Turgon said.

Eilian resisted the urge to swat him. "Legolas, Adar is looking for you."

"He never told you that," Legolas scoffed. "You didn't even know I was here."

"It's true anyway," Eilian said. "Do you want me to escort you back to the Green?"

Annael took two steps toward the path. Legolas glanced at him and then at Eilian. "We're fine without you," Legolas said. "Come on, Turgon. Hoth?" The other boys slowly went after him and Annael, but the girl stayed put.

Hoth looked over his shoulder at his sister. "Are you coming, Jardin?"

"I believe I'll stay and watch," she said. "Father said to talk up his wares, and here's a chance to speak to new people." She removed an earring on a silver chain and looped it over Eilian's left ear. "Tell everyone where you got it." Her hand lingered on the sensitive tip of Eilian's ear until he lifted it away.

"I'll do that." His voice was surprisingly normal. She probably had no idea how intimate that touch felt to an Elf. He hoped. That would be a complication he did not need. He drew a deep breath and realized the boys had gone.

"Are you going to jump?" she asked.

He turned toward the fire, which Calólas had built up higher. He probably shouldn't. Thranduil would accuse him of setting a bad example for Legolas. Also, the healers had been encouraging him to recognize that his hunger for danger sometimes verged on self-destruction, and that his Shadow Sickness used that hunger to lure him into dark places.

Oh, come on, whispered a voice in his head. You've been careful, and what good has it done? You need to feel alive again.

He moved to the starting point, calculating how high he'd have to leap to clear those flames. Calólas crowed, "Yes, Eilian!" Everyone else turned toward him too. He set himself, shutting off the sight of sound of everything but the fire. He flexed his knees, dug in his toes, and hurled himself forward. At the last instant, he flung out his leg so he'd spin as he skimmed the top of the flames. There was in instant of heat, and then he was on his feet again.

The crowd burst into cheers. He strolled back to Jardin.

"That was amazing!" she cried.

"Thank you." He turned toward the blazing fire, with a chill lifting the hair on his neck. Curse the healers anyway. If they hadn't been interfering with his mind, he'd feel like he was flying right now. Instead, he wondered uneasily if the feeling that drove him to jump had felt too much like Shadow Sickness.

"I think, though," Jardin said, "that I'd like to go back to the feast and get something to eat. Do you mind?"

"Of course not." He knew better than to say it, but given how thin she was, he'd be happy to fetch her food. He offered her his arm, and they walked together toward the path.