One horse and a pony was walking along the road. The two riders, Celebrimbor and Narvi, were greatly enjoyed this fine summer day. With a small smile on his lips, Celebrimbor saw how his dwarven wife's white-blonde hair and beard almost seemed alive against her dark skin in the sun. They were on the way to visit Alqualondë where some of Celebrimbor's old friends from Middle-earth lived. They had also received an invitation from king Olwë, who wanted their help on a stone project some of his palace workers were doing.
"It is very nice to get away from our families for a while. As much as we love them, we need some time alone too."
A sudden jerk on his braid stopped him from speaking; the owner's of the tiny fingers involved in the braid grabbing was in a sling he had on his back.
"Hello, Frëja, did you have a pleasant nap?"
Narvi smiled as a tiny face showed up between the now loose black hair that just had been the end part of her Elven husband's fine braid.
"Ba ba ga!" the toddler greeted her dwarrowdam mother, happy waving with one hand as Celebrimbor tried to prevent her from slipping off from his back since Frëja loved to climb all over him when she got the chance to do so.
"We are almost there, so if you just can try and keep her that way for a few minutes more, it will be over soon," Narvi giggled. Celebrimbor would have answered, if not for Frëja being so determined about trying to climb up on his head.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
At Alqualondë, many people greeted the unusual couple as they rode towards the royal palace where they would stay as guests.
"Greetings, Lord Celebrimbor!"
"Look, he has his dwarven wife with him."
"My, their daughter is so cute!"
In fact, it warmed Celebrimbor's heart to not hear any negative comments about Frëja as he had feared. With her being the only known offspring of an elf and dwarf, it was only natural for her different-race parents to worry about how people would react to their daughter. At least Frëja seemed to have a knack for catching people's hearts given how adorable she managed to be.
Olwë and his closest family members were standing on the stairs to the palace, all dressed in some form of light blue and white.
"Welcome to Alqualondë, my prince and princess. I am honored to have you here as my guests...oh? This is little Frëja," the Teleri king asked in surprise at seeing what Celebrimbor was carrying in his arms. Being a little shy around strangers, Frëja raised a tiny little closed fist as a greeting before hiding her face in Celebrimbor's hair.
"We thank you for the invitation, my king," Narvi responded with a deep court curtsy as her husband was busy with their daughter. Even if she was from a merchant family by birth, Narvi had been closely tied to the royal court in Khazad-dûm during her lifetime just like Celebrimbor was thanks to being the co-creators of the Door of Durin. So she was not a clumsy country girl; she had grown up in the Orocarni where there was slightly different traditions.
Although they had packed lightly so their belongings would fit in the saddle bags, Narvi was surprised to find a little bag from Caranthir among the clothes for Frëja when she had unpacked in the rooms they had been given for their visit. Opening it, there were several small outfits for the two-year-old toddler to wear. Celebrimbor had to laugh at one of the small dresses, a blue one where Caranthir had embroidered in white thread on the front:
Grandfather's Little Queen.
"Well, that is very true since my father spoils her like no one else in the family even if he tries so hard to hide it."
His wife shook her head, causing her white-blond hair to fly around in its braids.
"Bah, there is nothing wrong with showing feelings. He needs to loosen up and stop trying to look so stoic in front of people. Come, let her wear this tomorrow so everyone can see who holds the key to his heart."
While Frëja was too small to be part of welcome dinner, she was still brought along for a little while so she would know where her parents were. Besides, it was a good chance to show her off to other people.
"Easy there, girl."
The purple little dress with small white stars fitted Frëja perfectly, bringing out her blue eyes and dark skin colour along with her light brown hair.
"She is lovely. I admit I have not met many dwarves, but she certainly has inherited her mother's beauty."
Narvi blushed deeply at those words; it was pretty rare for dwarrowdams to be viewed as beautiful by people outside their own race, and there were a low number of elves who even bothered to check if they had a male dwarf or a dwarrowdam in front of them.
"Then, my lord, allow me to show some of the more unknown mysteries of my birth culture."
It did not take long for Narvi to change into the dancing clothes of green silk and heavy jewelry she had brought along just in case. Like always, her belly dance routine was a stunning piece of art. In fact, Frëja got into the cheerful mood as well and made an adorable attempt to mimic her mother's dance steps.
"Alright, little jewel, it is bedtime for you. You can train with your Amad tomorrow when it is light outside. Say goodnight to her."
With those words, Celebrimbor picked up Frëja in the middle of a dance step and carried her off to bed after she gave a small wave to Narvi.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Given that Celebrimbor and Narvi could not bring Frëja along to the work place the next morning, she was placed in the care of a palace maid who was no stranger to small children since she had several nieces and nephews from her older siblings.
"The last of her milk teeth is coming in, so do not be surprised if she wants to bite on things out of the blue," Narvi told the young elven girl, who already needed to save her braided hair from Frëja.
"Yes, my lady. I think it will be good to take a walk with her in the market before it is time for her nap."
Celebrimbor bent down to kiss Frëja good-bye, only to find that she was not really in the mood at the moment when she smacked his forehead with a soft toy-filled fist in response.
"Thank you for proving who your paternal great-grandfather is by behaving just as crank as he does when he's in a bad mood, missy."
The little girl and her caretaker went out since it was a calm market day with sunny weather, and many families were out with their little ones. It was no surprise that Frëja stood out a bit, thanks to her darker skin colour and light brown hair, and several other toddlers managed to drag her into a small game of hide and seek. After all, at that young age, children never think about how someone can be different.
"Please keep the children away from...agh!"
However, even if elflings can be rather obedient to their parents, there are moments where they choose to disobey. This was a such moment, and as a result, all the toddlers found themselves running away from their parents and babysitters when an adorable litter of kittens were seen with their mother around the market stands.
"Kittens!"
One of the small boys suddenly shrieked the word loudly, getting the other toddlers to follow him. They chased after the poor cats, who tried to hide from the small, eager hands that were known to be rather painful in grabbing their tails. The adults had their hands full in trying to prevent it from becoming full chaos since toddlers are small in height and not easy to catch when there are several of them running around the same place.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Not long after the minor chaos n the market place with the children, Olwë sailed out with some of his men to test to test-sail a new boat for the royal family. He was dressed in the same working clothes as the rest of them so he would not be encumbered by heavy robes. Since they would be away for some hours, they had brought a large basket with fresh fruit and bread from the market.
"Nothing seems to be causing trouble yet, my king. We will need to spend more time sailing the ship to tell if there is anything wrong with it. The rigging needs some adjustment if you'd like to help?"
"Yes, please."
Just as Olwë checked on the ropes to the sails, he heard a strange sound from the cabin. Was the basket with food unsteady because of the movements from the waves?
After walking into the cabin, he did see that the large basket indeed was not standing steady as it should in a corner. When he tried to lift it, he noticed that it was noticeably heavier than normal.
"There better not be any of shell statues in the basket. There was a lot of chaos with the toddlers at the market earlier, those statues takes a lot of work to create...hm?"
The Teleri king carefully removed the lid on the basket when he heard something move, only to slam back down in disbelief.
"Frëja?!"
Then, after opening the lid again, he quickly lifted up the small dwelf child who had somehow become an unexpected quest on the boat ride. Realizing that she must have hid herself in the basket just before it was brought to the boar during the chaos at the market, Olwë knew that they had to sail back before it was discovered she was missing. Looking around in confusion, Frëja proved her own mind by suddenly rushing out from the cabin before Olwë could stop her.
Understandably, the crew was just as surprised as their king when they saw her show up on the deck. Since she was so small and quick, it became a minor chase just to catch the two-year-old toddler once they realized they were not dreaming and there was a stray child onboard.
Suddenly stopping and looking around, Frëja did not see any familiar faces or even feel the safely of steady ground. She may only half a dwarf, but she had inherited the so called "stone sense" of the dwarves from Narvi and being out on a what seemed like an endless place of water, along with not seeing her parents, caused her to scream out in panic.
"AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
For being that tiny, she sure had a good set of lungs and strong voice. Now Olwë realized why Celebrimbor had joked about his father Curufin nicknaming his only grandchild as a possible balrog-slayer because of her voice. There was power in her screaming, similar to that of Maglor and Finrod in their singing. Finally, she stopped screaming because she needed to breathe, but no one blamed her for being on the brink of tears in fright.
"There, there, Frëja; calm down, little one. We will help you find your parents. Gentlemen, can you turn the boat back to the harbour," Olwë asked while he gently picked up the crying toddler in his arms.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Thankfully, Celebrimbor and Narvi had not even gotten the news of what Frëja had been up to as they were trying to fit the final part of the stone wall they had been asked to help with.
"Move your feet away, honey." Narvi warned, before using her body weight to push it the last few centimeters into position.
"Perfect fit, now there's only the painting left to do, right?"
It had been planned for there to be a painting of Ulmo on the wall, which could not be done before all the stones were set into place. The painters were eager to finally get to start on their work.
"The king's ship is already back? I thought they would be gone longer…"
More than one elf looked up in surprise at seeing the royal ship carefully sail back into the harbour. Once the wooden gangway had been placed on the ground, Olwë walked back into the harbour with Frëja in his arms, the toddler now calmed down.
"Frëja!?" Celebrimbor asked in shock, nearly dropping a hammer on Narvi's head because of their height difference of 30 centimeters between them and getting a rather painful poke in the ribs as response.
"This little lady got herself an unexpected boat ride on my ship. I guess that the chaos at the marketplace must have allowed her to sneak away from her babysitter," Olwë explained, just as the worried palace maid showed up in a frantic attempt to find the missing princess. She tried to explain the chaos caused by the toddlers earlier. Thankfully, Celebrimbor and Narvi were rather familiar with how Frëja would attempt to sneak away on her own little adventures when no one was looking. This often happened in Formenos when she was being watched by a relative.
"There is no need to worry; she is at that age when dwarrow children start exploring things away from their parents and sometimes happen to get a little too far away for comfort. It usually happens the moment adult eyes are off them for a brief second," Narvi laughed as she took back her daughter from the Teleri King.
Almost right away, Frëja hugged her mother around the neck with her tiny arms while babbling in that slightly confusing mix of Quenya and Khuzdul she used due to hearing the two languages spoken the most around her.
"Ah, you mean that you only meant to see if a kitten had hidden inside a basket and you could not get back up by yourself when you fell in," Narvi asked as Frëja tried to explain how she had ended up in the basket meant for the royal ship.
A small nod, which made her hair fly, was the only answer the mother got from her daughter.
"Come, we better take her back to the palace before she ends up wandering away on another crazy little adventure the very moment we take our eyes off her again," Celebrimbor said, sighing when Frëja grabbed a hold of his hair and started to pull on his long braid again. With a tiny smile, Narvi motioned for her elven husband to come along while she carried Frëja in her arms.