1. The invitation
Author's note: Hello everyone and welcome to the third part in the Rûsa-AU. Because of some rather brutal and nightmarish events that will happen in this story, it will be rated as M for mature. The story's title is an indication of that
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Year 90 in the Fourth Age, at dawn in early spring. It was, in many ways, a perfectly normal beginning of a day in the city of Formenos. Some people were already up, while other still remained asleep. In short, nothing was out of order. Well, except for one small thing…
"Brother! Brother, wake up!" a young, female Elfling called to her older brother by 65 years. Still sleeping, Rûsa rolled over under his quilt so Cúwen slid off him and landed between him and the wall in the corner of the sleeping chamber where his bed stood.
"Uff! Hmf, brother, get up! It is morning, I know that you are awake!"
Barely hiding a smile, Rûsa glared at his younger half-sister as she tried to wake him up. Then, in a quick movement, he caught her in the hook of his arm.
"Got you. cutie."
"Aaaah! Brother, let go of meeeee! You are cheating!" laughed Cúwen when Rûsa started to tickle her.
"Says the little lady who cheated in racing yesterday by riding on Snowflake while I had to run on my own two feet," teased Rûsa before stopping to tickle her and instead ruffled her orange red hair that was such a contrast to her dark brown skin colour alongside her grey eyes, affectionately. The fourteen-year-old Elfling gave him a push in the chest that Rûsa barely felt because of his muscle mass, before climbing down from the bed.
"You are a over-grown giant, brother!"
Rûsa laughed as his sister hurried out from his sleeping chamber. He was used to Cúwen calling him that, seeing that he really was a giant beside her.
"Rûsa, Cúwen! Wake up, it is time for breakfast." called Rog from the kitchen downstairs.
"I am coming, Rog."
"Atto! I want pancakes for breakfast! Pleeeease?"
After a quick shower in the bath room beside his sleeping chamber, Rûsa dressed in his travel clothes. Made from strong fabric and leather, its neutral colours were in moss green and brown of well use to blend in with the others when he was travelling with the Wood clan.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
"Slept well, Rûsa?" asked Rog when he spotted his stepson in the door flame, focusing on what he was cooking for breakfast. Rûsa, who was busy in finishing tying up the high ponytail that he could have today, nodded while calming avoiding Cúwen's playful head butt against his legs. The difference in age and height between the two half-siblings was the cause for a lot of interesting versions of a normal sibling duo playing together.
"Okey, Cúwen, that is enough. Your brother has a deadline to meet, he can not be late," Rog finally said and easily lifted up his daughter by her belt so he could place her on a chair.
"Good morning, everyone." greeted Maedhros as she entered the kitchen, her left hand resting on her growing belly. She was with child in the fifth month, having gotten pregnant late in the past autumn and thus would give birth to her third child in seven months in the coming autumn of this year.
"Good morning, my sweet Ruby."
Rog gave Maedhros a kiss before moving out a chair for her, so she could sit down.
"This little one really seems to be an calm one, or maybe just one of the quiet sort. I have been able to sleep thought the whole night and did not have to worry about morning sickness during this pregnancy too…"
Maedhros rubbed her pregnant stomach with a tender look down. Her husband shared a smile, while Rûsa and Cúwen started to eat on their breakfast. It was nothing strange of seeing their parents talk about their unborn sibling like this, so it was actually rather normal in this family.
"Ammë, how come that it is Rûsa who will go to the city of Valmar on King Ingwë's invitation to the first Spring Ball there?" asked Cúwen after finishing eating her porridge. Maedhros drunk some of her tea before answering:
"Well, sweetheart. Your grandparents are currently in Tirion; your uncle Káno and I are busy in controlling Formenos for your grandfather until he comes back; your other uncles are either out hunting or visiting the Halls of Aulë; and Tyelpë is with Narvi in the Halls of the Forefathers for something I have forgotten…"
"And you need atto here at home because of your pregnancy!" added Cúwen with a smile, causing Rog to laugh softly at her logic. In reality, it was simply because of that he still was unused to do the duty of a royal even if he had been married to Maedhros for almost 60 years now.
"Besides, it is almost custom that someone in great-grandfather Finwë's family is present at the Spring Ball. Lucky, I will not be alone; according to the letters I got last week, Maeglin and Saira will be there too." said Rûsa as he buttered his bread and added some honey on it for extra flavour.
"That remind me…" Rog remarked. "I think Ecthelion mentioned a new sort of rumour in Tirion…that there are some people who now claim that the only true way to heal the old riff between the Noldorin High King's three sons is by a marriage between their grandchildren."
Both Maedhros and Rûsa spit out their tea in shock, while Cúwen stared in disbelief on her father.
"Are those people seriously high on something?!" Rûsa exclaimed. "I admit that it is not completely impossible, but out of us many grandchildren to the three sons of High King Finwë…so are Saira, Lindë, Cúwen and myself still in different stages of being underage, so we can count out us four of question for the moment. Then we have our unborn sibling that ammë currently is carrying under her heart, that is another 100 years to wait until coming-of-age for that little fellow once he or she is born. Last time I checked, Gil-galad is currently busy wooing a lady from the Greenwood where Thranduil ruled. Maeglin has shown over and over again that she does not want to be married. Tyelpë is married to Narvi since the Second Age, secret marriage or not. Finduilas and Celebrian are married too, so…that narrows down the options rather much in the long run. And that is not counting in future siblings or cousins that we might have!"
Rûsa lowed one finger for each person he mentioned, in the end only holding up his left little finger at finishing talking. Almost like the unborn baby was agreeing with her firstborn in this matter, Maedhros felt a tiny little kick.
"We also have to think about the possibility that one of you youngsters might not even be drawn to the opposite sex at growing up and instead favour a relation with your own gender," said Maedhros, somewhat uneasily, as she had known about these kinds of relationships between some of her own soldiers back in the First Age. While it was common back then because of Morgoth's foul perversions slowly poisoning the unity of the Noldor, and the scarcity of ordinary male to female relationships because of constant war and death, here in Aman things were different, both morally and culturally.
"Imagine the outrageous outcry from the Vanyarin Elves if they knew the truth about the relationship between Glorfindel and Ecthelion that started in Gondolin," commented Rog calmly as he poured up some new tea for his wife and stepson. Rûsa only shrugged; he had not been unfamiliar with such relationships between the slaves in Angband. In fact, there had even been a couple of newly-arrived slaves over the years who had tried to start a sexual relationship with him in hoping to gain his favour or protection from the horrors in Angband, only for the more experienced slaves to quickly break that frail hope by telling the newcomers that Rûsa were not that sort of person. Neither would he be now.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
"You have really changed, Rûsa."
Rûsa froze in the middle of a dance step at suddenly hearing the unexpected voice, and tripped down on the floor because of the simple reason of losing his balance.
"Ow! Maeglin? What are you doing here?" Rûsa asked at looking up and seeing her standing in a balcony in the upper part of the ballroom, having a perfectly good view on him from there.
"There is a limit to how much tea and sweets I can stand to have at a afternoon tea gathering. It is nice on its own, but too much when it is many people."
"And watching me is more fun?"
Noting that he had torn up the skin in his hand, Rûsa lifted up his hand against his mouth. Then, he got a small idea in how to possibly mess with Maeglin. Putting the hand close to his mouth while making it clear that she could see it all, he carefully licked away the blood. Over the last years since he had started to mature from a boy into a adult in not just height but also body, Rûsa had learnt that many She-elves and even a couple of male Elves found him sexually attractive just because of his feral aura and what many called good-looking in a wild, foreign way. Maybe not a precise ideal mix of Noldor and Avari features, but his dark red hair and black eyes tended to stand out.
"Are you trying to flirt with me, silly?"
Maeglin emphasized her words by throwing a small throw pillow at him, thus knocking Rûsa to the floor again. Not that he minded, Cúwen tended to do the same in order to catch his attention or to make him look down on her.
"Why not? It is not like that you are unfamiliar with me, at least." he grinned, making Maeglin laugh in agreement.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
A knock on the front door was heard.
"Rûsa! It is time to leave now!" a voice called from the front door as the owner peeked inside the house. Smiling, Rûsa ate up the last of his bread. Then he rose, and grabbed his travel bag that he had left at the door. As he dressed in his boots and cloak, Snowflake came up with his hunting bow in her mouth.
"Wuof!"
Patting Snowflake's head, Rûsa took the hunting bow. It had been a so called sibling-gift from Rána and Valsûl to him at Cúwen's birth fourteen years earlier, as a sign of that Rûsa had a special role as his future siblings' protector when they grew up. Outside Maedhros and Rog, Rûsa would be the most important person in their lives during the first years. If he neglected that duty, then he would prove himself of not being responsible enough to be a good father either. In short, he would only give himself a lesser possibility for marriage in the Avarin culture as no independent Avari She-elf wanted a irresponsible husband as father to her future children.
"Thank you, Snowflake."
As Rûsa finished dressing in his outdoor clothing, his family came up to him.
"Have a safe journey now and enjoy yourself with your friends, sweetheart," said Maedhros with a smile and kissed his forehead. Rog had picked up Cúwen in his arms, so she could hug Rûsa more close to his own level.
"Watch ammë for me while I am away, ok, Cúwen?"
"Yes…"
Then, without warning, Cúwen started to cry. She had rarely been without her older brother in her young life and did not really like the idea of him being gone for a whole month.
"There, there, little moon, no need to be sad. A month will pass by quickly," soothed Rog gently to his daughter as she refused to let go of Rûsa.
"B-but I do not want brother to leave…!"
Even if his social skills had gotten a lot better over the years since his rebirth and most people agreed on that he actually was pretty good with children, Rûsa sent Maedhros a pleading look for help as he was afraid that the Wood clan would leave for Valmar without him.
"Come here, Cúwen. Let go of your brother now."
Despite Cúwen's barely heard protests, Rog managed to free his stepson from her and Rûsa kissed her cheek as good-bye before leaving the house with Snowflake on his heels.
"He is so grown-up already…in only 20 short years, he will have his ceremony for coming-of-age…oh, where did all those years vanish so quickly!?"
Rog knew that Maedhros was a little bit extra emotionally sensitive now when she was pregnant, so he could understand why she suddenly started to cry as well.
"Aye. Before we know it thanks to seeing our children grow up, it will already be our turn to have grandchildren in the future."
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Taking his horse from the stable, Rûsa checked so he had not forgotten anything. Riding out from Formenos with Snowflake walking beside the horse, he saw that the Wood clan was making the last checking on things before it was time to leave, so he had not been too late.
"Ready to leave for Valmar, Rûsa?"
"As ever!"
Rûsa could sense the excitement in the air, he was not the only one to look forwards this journey.
"It will be fun to meet with Maeglin and Saira again, it is a couple of months since the last time I saw either of them."
"Perhaps you might have to keep a eye on young Saira, Rûsa, I know that there is a couple of youths here in the Wood clan who has a crush on her."
Smirking, Rûsa nodded. He was not surprised that it was many who had eyes for Saira, given how pretty she was. And with only ten years left to her coming-of-age ceremony that would make her marriageable, it was perhaps no wonder that some people also started to be serious in hoping to have her as bride.