As Elrond so graciously requested, I changed into a dress and regretfully left my swords behind. Longbows it would be, today at least. When I finally reached the training arena, Elladan was already practicing. He turned to acknowledge me as I walked in.

"Sorry for being late," I said. "Your daddy wanted to talk to me."

Elladan frowned and lowered his bow. "About what, pray tell?"

I bent my fingers into quotations. "'Propriety'."

"Oh." He winced. "I've gotten that one a couple of times."

"He showed me the chair."

Elladan's eyes widened. "And you're still here?"

I lowered my eyelashes a millimeter. "What makes you think you're the one he was lecturing me about?"

Elladan smirked. "You are brave, I'll grant you that."

I glowered at the ellon. "He said I could come, as long as I wore a dress."

He barked a laugh. "I told you trousers are inappropriate."

"You've told me a number of things," I replied, moving closer, "but only a few of them were verbal." I laid my hand over his, holding the bow. "Believe me, Elrondion, I can be far more than inappropriate."

His dark eyes seemed to darken even more at our sudden proximity, and he released the bow into my grip. Reaching behind him, he took an arrow from his quiver and handed it to me. "See if you cannot hit the target."

I set the arrow to the string, as he'd shown me in the past. Then, flexing my muscles, I labored to pull it back. Miraculously, I was able to. I pointed the arrow at the target, but my arms were shaking too much to really take aim. So I simply released the string.

The arrow missed the target by yards, then smashed into the wall behind and shattered.

Elladan chuckled. "At least it went the right way this time." His expression was pleased, though.

I stuck my tongue out at him, and we both laughed.

He took his bow back and hung it over his shoulder, then he moved in front of me and knelt down, bringing him to my height. He placed his hands on either side of my face, and looked into my eyes. My heartbeat stuttered. What was he doing?

"Your eyes are bloodshot," he murmured, standing once more. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Umm." I blushed furiously, trying to get my heart started again. Blushing is easy to do, but extremely difficult to prevent. Why?! "I, uh, no. I was reading."

Elladan's eyes lit up. "That's happened to me many times. I'll give you some advice. Never start a good book late in the day."

I raised an eyebrow, smirking. "How do you know it's good without starting it?"

Elladan scowled. "You know what I mean." A pause, then, "What book was it?"

"I think the title was There and Back Again. It's Bilbo's record of going with the Dwarves to reclaim Erebor."

Elladan scowled. "That hardly sounds interesting."

I shrugged.

"Well." Elladan met my gaze and smirked. "I think you should take the rest of today off. Get some sleep."

I looked up at him through my eyelashes. "And why does my sleeping schedule concern you, Elladan?"

His grin deepened. "My brother's fiancée is having a birthday party tomorrow evening. And our parties tend to run rather late."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't go to parties."

Elladan casually brushed a stray lock of hair out of my face, his touch sending chills down my spine. "And what if I asked you to go with me?"

Looking away to hide that I was fighting a blush, I countered, "What if I said no?"

Elladan placed a long finger under my chin and tiled my head back so that I would look at him. "The seamstress would be very upset," he murmured. "She would say, 'Elladan, why would you have me make the most beautiful dress in Rivendell, if nobody was even going to wear it?'" His voice dropped to a whisper. "And I would have to take her as atonement."

My heart was thundering so loudly, I thought he would hear it. "That would be awful," I replied absentmindedly, staring up into his rich, deep brown eyes.

"It would indeed. So. Will you go with me?" he prodded, a slight grin lifting his lips.

The word 'yes' almost slipped out, but I managed to stop it. Instead, I said, "You'd owe me. Big time."

"Would I?" Elladan leaned down and skimmed his nose over my forehead, inhaling. Then he moved to sniff at my hair. "What would I owe you?"

"I dunno," I said breathlessly.

"Hmm." Elladan took a deep breath through his nose, then exhaled. His warm breath traveled over my head, and I shivered. "Go get some sleep, princess. I told the seamstress to deliver your dress to you as soon as it's finished."

"O-ok-kay," I stuttered.

Elladan withdrew, smirking, and strode out of the training arena, leaving me speechless.

Here we go.