Celegorm had managed to got a place to sleep for both himself and Huan. They were not often in Nargothrond but some people worked in Formenos and thus could recognized them. As he was eating some breakfast of ham sandwiches, fried eggs and small sausages together with a large cup of coffee, he called Orodreth to hear any news about Dior:
"Yes, he is much better now after getting a epinephrine shot by a quick-acting nurse who is always travelling on the train for emergency cases during the journey and then resting here over the night. It seems like prior to losing his mother, no one have been thinking of teaching him how to give himself a epinephrine shot if he have a such severe allergic reaction as yesterday evening, so I will prescribe epinephrine for Dior and teach him how to give himself a shot this morning before he is released from the hospital."
"Thanks, Orodreth. Had you not called yesterday, we would have been worried sick over that something must have happened to him and with Dior not being used to have a mobile, we would have no way to call him," Celegorm said, before drinking up the last of his coffee.
That about Dior not having a mobile of his own for communication, had been one of the first things he had called his family while driving the long way to Nargothrond yesterday evening. Curufin had promised to get one of Celebrimbor's older mobiles for Dior to use, the model which had been popular roughly five years ago in the big cities south but in Formenos changing mobiles every year just to get a new fancy one was not viewed with kind eyes. Rather, it was nothing unusual to see young school children having a mobile once used by their older siblings only a few years earlier.
"Well, time to get him home. The whole family is waiting and would be calm by knowing that he have arrived."
In the hospital of Nargothrond:
Dior had heard about the unhealthy food served at hospitals, but here in Nargothrond the kitchen staff was determined to protest against that idea and made meals from only the very best commodities that could be purchased in the area's food stores. He had been greatly surprised by the fact that he could choose from a daily menu, fill in the choices he wanted for breakfast and that there even was food created especially for those with food allergies.
In a small act of defiance against the vegan breakfasts Luthien always had insisted on feeding him, Dior had chosen three French toasts with honey, breakfast egg muffins, a few fruit slices and a huge cup of lemon-flavored tea. The nurse had not protested when he had mentioned that he was not used to huge breakfast servings, and wanted to avoid a stomach ache later because he had eaten too much. Dior only hoped that she did not think that he was suffering from anorexia, he knew that he was thin but not that underweight!
"...and make sure to buy some warm outdoor clothes, this is a case where spring clothes really is needed."
It was the voice of doctor Orodreth, who had taken care of him yesterday evening and earlier this morning had showed Dior how to give himself a epinephrine shot with a epipen next time he had a such reaction to peanuts. There was a silver-blonde person with him, and whose voice sounded slightly familiar.
"Alright, Dior, I have brought some packets with epipens for you to have in a small waist bag to carry, and one of your new foster brothers, Celegorm, have arrived to pick you up so you can arrive to Formenos despite that the last morning train went off a hour ago."
"Really?"
Dior was honestly surprised over that Celegorm had driven the whole way just to pick him up, though he tried to hide how emotional he felt for a moment, because he honestly had expected to need waiting on the midday train to Formenos today.
"Yeah, Orodreth called me about what happened yesterday and since the local trains only goes five times a day here in each direction, twice in the morning and evenings with a midday train as well, it would make you need to wait a long time to arrive to Formenos."
Dior looked with honest curiosity at Celegorm, who was handsome in a manly way which his grandfather had never managed despite being a wealthy businessman, the strong body and clothing which spoke of a active outdoor life. In fact, Dior felt as if he was face to face with a wild being, a free spirit which could not be restrained to a domestic, everyday life of the modern world. No, this man looked like he would fit the image of a forest ranger perfectly.
"...thank you for coming all the way here…" Dior finally managed to say, suddenly feeling the need to cover up his thin body in all the warm clothing he had brought. When Celegorm reached out to have them shook hands in greeting, Dior felt hopelessly weak in the strength of the larger hand, especially given seeing just muscular Celegorm was. Even if Celegorm was careful, he could tell from how thin the smaller hand felt, that Dior really needed to put on weight. There was some strength, yes, but very small.
"Thin like a little bird, my parents are going to feed you a lot more than what you ate before, that is for sure."
Dior's suitcase with clothes and a few personal things was thankfully placed under the hospital bed, so they could leave almost right away once Dior had a change to fresh clothes. Given how thin Dior was, Celegorm did not comment about the teenager dressing as if it was early spring outside and not early summer, or even about the gloves Dior wore to keep his hands warm.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Huan was very eager to see his owner come out with the teenager towards the car, but only greeted Dior with a friendly lick of the tongue as Celegorm placed the suitcase in the trunk cover.
"Huan is a big cuddle when it is not work in the forest for us. He is more of a working dog than a pet, because he enjoys the hunting so much, but I think he likes you already."
From the passenger seat, Dior had a very good view of the outer parts of Nargothrond, because the hospital was not placed clear the city centrum, mainly to avoid that rush hour traffic every morning and evening could get in the way for the ambulances. Celegorm knew the best way out from the city without getting caught up in traffic, and drove carefully.
"It takes three hours by car or bus to Formenos, so I suggests that we will stay somewhere in one of the smaller communities which is roughly a hour outside Nargothrond along the road and take something to eat so you will not look like you are about to faint from hunger when we arrives home to the family."
Dior blushed, but understood why. He had eaten a good-sized breakfast according to the amounts he was used to eat, but he knew that within a few hours, he would soon feel that it was not enough to last until a similar-sized lunch.
"Ok...you are familiar with this place, not me…"
Nodding, Celegorm started to focus on the road in front of him while Dior watched the landscape.
A hour or so later, Celegorm drove into the former mining community known as Erebor from its earliest days as the first mine workers had found a good mine for gold. Nowadays the mine was left untouched because the community instead focused on making some of the finest handmade jewelry in Valinor with precious stones and metals brought from the outside, while the old gold mine was guarded very good to avoid that some gold-greedy fool found themselves in a unsafe part of the mine and basically entered their own tomb without understanding the dangers.
"Here we are. A old favorite place of my family back when my brothers and I was young, perfect for school trips as well," Celegorm said, parking the car outside a sightly old-looking restaurant named Arkenstone Pancakes. Yet it had a homely feeling, welcoming people to come inside.
"Oh, look at who that arrived! Did your parents manage to have enough energy left for a surprise kid years after the twin terrors they intended to be their final ones of seven sons? I guess that mother nature found your family better suited for boys than girls, then. Or did your oldest brother find out that he got some old flame blessed in the manner of motherhood? The lad looks a little like him," a older woman with grey streaks among her otherwise raven-black hair, commented at seeing Celegorm entering with Dior behind, after tying up Huan to the small "dog bar" in the shade of the restaurang.
"Hello again, lady Dis. And no, Dior is not my brother or a until-now unknown nephew. He is the newest foster child in the family and due to some unplanned event yesterday, he got stranded in Nargothrond on the way to Formenos with the train and I had to get him there," Celegorm responded, while Dior mentally counted. So Celegorm and his two oldest brothers were old enough to possibly have children in his own age as a result of a summer fling in their own youth, as his grandfather had called it. That alone would be a detail to make them undesirable to be seen around, had Thingol ever heard such rumours.
"Ah, we all heard about that idiot and the forbidden peanuts on the train, it was on the local radio yesterday evening. That guy is going to find himself with a huge amount of compensation to pay to those who had a severe allergic reaction to the peanuts and likely also face a trial for negligent homicide, because one woman in her late forties died from the peanuts as a result of sitting right beside him."
Dior shuddered, recalling his growing panic at the smell of peanuts and how he had forced himself out though the wagon door in a desperate attempt to get away before his trouble to breathe became worse. Dying young as a result of his allergy, was not how he intended for his life.
"Alright, we are here for a early lunch, not sharing gossip, thank you."
Giving Dior a gentle push in the back, Celegorm guided the teenager towards a table with two chairs to sit on. There was a menu on the table, and Celegorm told of the various pancakes served:
"The basic is plain and simple pancake batter, which can be flavored by demand, and made thin or thick. The toppings are either melted chocolate, honey, different berry jams or whipped cream."
Looking over the offers for a few moments, Dior made his choice:
"Thick pancakes with mashed banana in the batter and melted chocolate on top with a glass of lemon water, please."
There was a open glass window to the kitchen where they could watch Dis make the batter and then fry the pancakes in two separate frying pans with a skill that revealed lifelong exercise from childhood, that she had done this all her life and enjoying it still, taking pride in what she was doing. It was the same with how careful she added on the toppings, showing that despite being a woman past her prime and youth, she did it all with such elegance that Dior couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Her family was one of the first mine workers here in Erebor two hundred years ago, and the wives and daughters started the restaurang as a attempt to ensure that they both earned a few extra coins outside selling needlework and could feed theír menfolk after a long way of working in the mine, or at least offer a quick-to-make breakfast for those workers who had a long distance to go and could not eat a warm meal at home before it was time to leave for work. It have been successful for so many generations that nowadays, people can not imagine Erebor without Arkenstone Pancakes. A important part of the community here and any attempts of opening a fast food restaurant is bound to not work, especially those brands who belongs to a chain store. People here in the north of Valinor likes the old things which rarely changes, which serves the same food they always have done," Celegorm explained as they waited for their food to be served. Dior listened with big attention, this information was far better than the dull history lessons with his private tutors.
Apparently, people here did eat a lot more than what he was used to, for Dis returned with no less than five pancakes on the plate for Dior and a whole seven blueberry-flavored thick pancakes and honey for Celegorm, who had taken plain water to drink since he was the one driving.
"I have two boys of my own, and knows very well how much teenage boys can eat when they are hungry. That age group is a guaranteed customer base, because they know that here they can eat how many pancakes they want until they are satisfied. Besides, you look like you could need a few extra kilos on that skinny body," Dis smiled gently at Dior when she saw his shocked face.
"...thank you," Dior managed to say, feeling like it almost was a dream he would wake up from any moment. Even after the first tasting, he had to fight down the so formal table manners he had been raised with. It was really wonderful to finally be able to eat as much as he wanted, without his mother harshly reminding of that he had to remain slim and be satisfied with the size of his portions that she had allowed.
Celegorm smiled behind his water glass at seeing the ravenousness Dior revealed as he ate, not protesting at the request for seconds the moment the plate was empty. Again he wondered just how strict Luthien had been with only vegan food to her son and how blind she must have been to that as a teenager, Dior would need a lot more food than as a child.
Finally, after eating eight pancakes, Dior felt that it was enough to last for a few hours until lunch. But he still had two left on the plate, which made him feel guilty over leaving food.
"Do not worry, lad. For customers who can not eat their full order, we allows them to take the remaining pancakes as food they can eat in the car or train as they travel."
Again Dis showed off a unexpected elegance in what she was doing, rolling up the remaining pancakes from his plate into aluminum foil before placing them in a small wooden box with a lid which also had a little rounded handle, every part of the box was a simple but beautifully worked craft itself, a perfect size to make it a lunch box.
"You made a good timing by arriving before the lunch rush, because soon this place will be filled with hungry people that will request food and it can become pretty crowded," Dis spoke with Celegorm as he paid her for the food. Dior noticed that there was none of those little machines at the cash register, to pay by card which had become so common nowadays, and that Celegorm used paper money and a few coins to pay.
"So called "old-fashioned" money is to prefer here in the north, mainly because harsh storms in the autumn and winter seasons can cause power failure, and in a such situation, it would become impossible to pay for the food or other needed items at all."
Well, that was pretty logical if people was used to having some problems in everyday life from the weather.
After picking up Huan, it was time to keep driving towards Formenos.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Dior found that he liked Formenos already on the first look of the northern city as Celegorm drove closer. It held that charm of older places with wooden houses and livestock in pastures along the road, without everything which seemed too modern.
"My family is living just over here to the left city border. We live close enough to be able to take a bicycle into the center in five minutes when we do not need the cars. And there is not so many modern cars here either, most of them are older models and even a few horse-drawn carriages for those who prefer to use that, especially since we have a local horse farm here as well, a bit away from the national park. They offer riding tours for tourists during summer and the horses are very useful in their own way," Celegorm explained as he drove off to the left after that they passed the huge sign which read:
WELCOME TO FORMENOS
"You mean those huge draft horses, right? I have seen some of them in those history programs with actors, but my family tended to prefer sport horses instead, especially grandfather who said that they were more elegant and suitable for the nobility of the south."
That caught Celegorm's attention.
"Are you used to riding, then?"
"No, I have not ridden since I outgrew the pony I once had when I was younger and I was not given one bigger horse to keep training on my riding skills. For some reason my mother did not seem to like..signs of that I was growing up."
Celegorm could hear that Dior was not really wanting to speak of the past, it seemed like Luthien brought up a mixture of contrasting feelings and it was also possible that Dior regretted not being able to be present at the burial, which would be a public one in two weeks. Still, given how he had been hidden away from the media attention all his life, it was perhaps for the best that he was not there.
"Ah, home sweet home. It will be only my parents home now at lunch, the rest of this big family will arrive to meet you in the evening, so you can get some hours resting from the long journey to come to Formenos."
The wooden villa looked very cosy, despite that it was very big and seemed to have far more rooms than the small cottages Dior could see a bit away. Perhaps those was to be rented out to tourists during summer?
"Yes, it is nice to finally be here."
As they came out from the car and Celegorm took the suitcase after letting Huan ut, Dior took a deep breath to steady himself. There was no reason to freak out all suddenly, when he had not even meet his foster parents yet. It was time to start a new page in life, one where his maternal family was not present, and it would start here.
It was smelling very nice from the kitchen when they entered the villa. Celegorm could tell from the smell that it was cooked pasta with a creamy salmon sauce, one of the food dishes served in his childhood because his parents knew that all of their seven sons would eat it. Hopefully his dad had made that wonderful chocolate mousse as well to serve as dessert.
"Mom, dad, I have come home with Dior."
Some steps was heard as if a person turned around while wearing indoor shoes, and then a red haired woman with her hair up in a braided bun showed herself in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Oh, welcome home, both of you, just in time for lunch. Dior, I hope that the journey was not too horrible after what happened on the train yesterday evening? We were worried about you," Nerdanel assured in a kind voice, quickly cleaning off her hands on a kitchen towel and tossed it over to land on the kitchen counter before she came over into the large living room.
It look Dior a lot of self-control to not start crying all suddenly when Nerdanel offered him to sit down at the dining table with Celegorm while she and Fëanor got the food, and that was not just because he was tired after spending over twelve hours of travel over two days to a unknown place. Just coming here, to a family who was worrying about him already before he even had arrived, was a such a contrast to his maternal family.
"I am tired after everything…." Dior managed to say, and Celegorm saw no reason to doubt that.
"No one would protest if you takes a nap on the tv couch after lunch, given how long you traveled yesterday. The knitted blankets and the pair of pillows are there for that very reason."
Dior nodded faintly, trying to keep himself aware just for a little more so he would not fall asleep in the middle of lunch. It would be wonderful to sleep later.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note:
I simply used the most common name for French toast rather than making up a name for it
And Erebor seemed to fit as a place where it once was a gold mine, and the descendants of the mine workers still staying there