26. Coming-of-age hunt
Author's note: Okay, dear readers, time for a little riddle to you! Lets see if there is any of you who can guess which songs that I have sneaked into the different parts of the chapter! Have fun in guessing!
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Making a quick escape from all the nobles who wanted to talk with him and to congratulate him on finally coming of age, Rûsa took Cúwen and Yuë with him, carrying Yuë on one arm while holding Cúwen in one hand.
"This is part of why I dislike being royal, rarely a chance of being left alone for myself so I can breathe…" he muttered softly for himself as they entered a small chamber and closed the door to get some peace. The younger siblings grabbed hold of his outer robe and pulled it off him together.
"No more dolling up with you, brother! We will borrow this robe instead for that small play we planned to do with Frëja and some of our friends from the Wood Clan."
Laughing at her words, Rûsa bent down a bit so he could place the purple outer robe around Yuë. The plum colour of the robe helped to slightly soften how white he was as a result of being an albino.
"You said something about needing a royal robe in the play, so you can borrow this one." Rûsa said as he rose to his full height again.
"It is because Yuë is perfect for the role of great-uncle Nolo, seeing it will not be a speaking role there. And Frëja is gonna play the role of lord Aulë since he is the Maker of´the Dwarves after all," Cúwen explained while Yuë bleamed in joy over being allowed to borrow the robe his brother had been given the same morning. Grinning at the mental image of the roles they would play, Rûsa ruffled both of their hairs.
"I am already looking forwards to see the play in a day or two when I returns from the coming-of-age hunt with my friends. Just don't surprise the watching people too much with the planned water prank."
Oh, please! It is just a small reminder that Lord Ulmo is the King of Sea and Lord of Waters! What sort of damage can a few drops of water do? Yuë asked by the use of Ósanwë, one of his eyebrows raised to show what he meant. Rûsa, who currently held a simple hair pin made of bone between his teeth and therefore could not answer before he had set up his hair in a high ponytail with the hair pin, simply shrugged his shoulders as he freed himself from the clothes he had worn during the coming-of-age ceremony.
"Tell that to those nobles, though."
All the three siblings snorted in agreement. Being half-Avari instead of pure-bred Noldor, they had some of the Avarin Elves' restless wish for freedom in different forms; Rûsa by being a very careful rebel against royal customs, Cúwen with her endless energy and while Yuë was still very young with his twenty years of age, there was no doubt that he might find something to diagree with as well when he got older.
"Now, let me help you two getting ready for that play so you and the others can draw away the attention from me so I can sneak out without being seen, or at least not seen as I can be with this height."
Cúwen and Yuë snicked at his words, knowing just how hard it actually was for Rûsa to avoid getting seen because of how tall he was.
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At the same time, Frëja was helping the other young actors, a gang of Elflings from the Wood Clan, to hand out hand-made invitations to the play they had practiced in the past month. The Noldorin royal family were definitely guests who must come, that much was clear, given that only Finarfin had stayed behind in Valinor while the others had left.
"Haru Atarinkë! Grandmother Astarë! This is for you!"
Unfortunately, Frëja did not get enough time to slow down in her running and ended up headbutting Curufin straight in the stomach as she tried to stop.
"Uff! I never get used to that unusual weight of yours that you inherited from your Dwarrowdam mother, girl…", gasped Curufin in pain from the sudden hit, kneeling on the floor with a hand on his stomach as he mentally sent a quick prayer in thanks to Eru that Frëja finally had grown just barely tall enough to stop headbutting him in the groin area in this manner of greetings now when she was 110 cm tall.
"What do you have for us, sweetheart?" Astarë asked gently to her half-Dwarf granddaughter, while giving her husband a comforting clap on the shoulder to show her sympathy for his pain.
"This is for you two," Frëja informed with a nervous side-glare on her Elvish paternal grandfather as she handed Astarë a hand-made invitation for the play. By now Curufin managed to slowly raise to his feet, although he still held a hand on his stomach as the pain had not really dulled yet. If there was one thing he never really got used to no matter how many times he lifted her up in his arms, so was it the small fact that his only grandchild was noticeable heavier and more sturdy built than a pure-blood Elfling in the same age.
"Oh, a small play where Lindë, Cúwen, Yuë and yourself will be some of the actors? Of course we will come, this sounds fun," Astarë said as she opened the invitation to find two amulets, to be used as tickets for entry to the play, inside.
"Thank you, grandma!" Frëja smiled, before spotting Fingolfin and Anaire a bit futher away in the hallway.
"Great-great-uncle Nolo certainly is someone who should really have fun at seeing this play because of that he sort of is one of the characters mentioned during the story, see you two later!"
And with that, Frëja hurried away to try and act up with Fingolfin and Anaire to give them a invitation as well. While Astarë waved goodbye to their granddaughter, Curufin looked over his wife's shoulder to see what was written in their own invitation.
"The false King of Arda? Yup, that really sounds like a true Fëanorian humour if you ask me."
"Only because you knows perfectly well who it will be a joke about, my dear Curvo," Astarë warned sweetly to him in a innocent way with her elbow against his stomach where Frëja had headbutted him only a couple of minutes before. Curufin took the hint and kept his mouth shut.
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While the rest of the royal court was getting focused on the play the children was playing, Rûsa had managed to sneak away to the Wood Clan camp outside Tirion. Right now, the ceremonial face painting was almost finished.
"There, you are done. Being the highest-ranked of the youngsters who comes of age this year, you will be the Great Hunter."
Rûsa nodded. The one chosen as the role of the Great Hunter, was the one to give the signal to start the coming-of-age hunt. Despite what moral guardians might think, it was actually pretty innocent: Find the ner or nis who caught the flower crown you were wearing and then spend the night together just enjoying time together. Nothing of the kind of stuff that would result in marriages, although it was not unheard among those who wanted to get married once both partners in a relationship was of age.
"Now you looks like a proper hunter instead of wearing all those layers of clothing from before, princess," teased one of his oldest half-brothers and earned a light slap on the shoulder. Rûsa smirked in pride, the green face paint made a nice contrast to his dark red hair which was hung in a high ponytail and his summer-tanned skin. He also wore a set of silver ear rings, which was an noticeable contrast to the leather pants and olive-green, sleeveless and open west he was wearing.
"Let's have fun."
As the Great Hunter, Rûsa was to wear a crown made from the horns of a stag. Not a very big one, it would only be impractical if he got into a forest and it got stuck on low-hanging branches, but it stood out among the flower crowns that the rest of the other young Elves wore. It also had some green ribbons hanging from the crown around Rûsa's head.
"Up with you on that black stallion of yours, we cannot start without your signal."
The young She-elves were eagerly awaiting the signal as they each dressed in a fitted top along with a full-length skirt or pants, depending on what they chose, in different colours that made them look like a moving rainbow together. This was something all of them had been looking forward under the whole past year.
"Rûsa is perfect as the Great Hunter! Awww, if he was not already taken, I think several of us would try with him tonight…" one of them giggled dreamily with a meaningful look at Maeglin, who simply smiled in gratitude for the respect of her relationship with him. If it was so that someone already was "taken" into a relationship, that Elf was not to be caught by anyone else than the partner.
"I am actually not too surprised over that he really is popular among you, girls. And yes, who cannot fall for him with that kindness and tender smile of his?" Maeglin smiled as she fixed the last braid in her hair and smoothed out her dark lime-green pants. She knew that none of them was really a possible rival to her about Rûsa, he simply was very well-liked among them for several reasons. Using a small hand mirror, Maeglin placed some green eyeshadow on her eyelids so she marked herself as the only one allowed to catch Rûsa's stag crown thanks to wearing the same green colour as his ribbons would be.
"I hear a horse, get ready!"
With the afternoon sun in his back as the black stallion showed up on a hill and reared while its rider blew in a hunting horn, Rûsa almost looked like a true personification of Oromë. The sound of his horn was the signal, and several young male Elves rode past the hill where he was.
"Time to hunt you guys down!"
Laughter and shouts in agreement from the other She-elves was heard, and Rûsa got in a hurry as well when she saw the ladies arrive out from between the tents where they had been hiding.
"But you have to catch our crowns first if you want us to spend the one night one of you, ladies!" Rûsa called, standing up on the galloping stallion's back to wave at them as a teasing, before he mounted the horse properly again.
"My red-haired fox prince," Maeglin smiled fondly for herself as she made herself ready to catch him sooner or later during the evening.
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Meanwhile, at the royal palace in Tirion:
"As fun as this play was...did you kids really need to use water-filled bath sponges and toss on random people from the scene everytime Ulmo showed up in the story?" asked Ecthelion as he dried of his soaking wet head with a towel a servant girl offered him.
"More fun this way, sir Ecthelion!" most of the Elflings from the Wood clan cheerfully grinned in response to him, before suddenly rushing off to their parents under a lot of questions what they felt about the play. Behind the scene, Lindë was helping Elured to get out of the black custome he had used to play Morgoth, while Elurin had been playing Sauron.
"So that's where my helmet went earlier today…" said Fingolfin as he was handed back the helmet Yuë had borrowed from the armoury where they had a copy of the armour Fingolfin had wore during the duel against Morgoth. In a corner, Maglor had picked his his own harp to play from the song that had been sung during the play.
"Too late to be known as Melkor the Just
He's sure to be known as Morgoth the Worst
A nightmare, that false king of Arda!"
Well, the song was pretty catchy, so Maedhros had no trouble with laughing softly behind her oldest younger brother's back. She knew that Maglor enjoyed any change to offer her some sort of fun.
"You had pretty fun when you wrote that song, didn't you, Yuë? You hold a great skill in writing, I would not be surprised if you ends up as a Loremaster when you are fully grown."
Yuë just blushed slightly and tried to hide his face with Rûsa's plum purple robe at Anaire's words, especially as he also happened to hear Saira asking Frëja who it was that had written the song lyrics. Maedhros smiled, which quickly turned into a slight grimance when she felt a steady pattern of slowly growing pain around her belly.
"Rog...healing wing. Now. While everyone is too busy around here. I believe our new child will be here before midnight," she whispered quietly to her husband. Rog nodded in understanding. With this being Maedhros' fourth pregnancy, they knew what signs to look for on that her labour had become more active as a warning about the coming birth.
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The hours passed. It was now twilight and while many couples had found each others, Rûsa refused to let Maeglin catch his stag crown yet. Maeglin had to give Rûsa some credit, he was very good at hiding himself once he had learnt a couple of tips to not be revealed by his height.
"Rûsaaaa...you really do no want to become caught before nightfall, huh? Well, do not expect me to give up yet, fox prince," Maeglin said loudly in a sing-along voice so he would hear her, grinning for herself as she looked around between the trees, knowing that he did hide somewhere. Coming to a small waterfall, she bent down to cup some water in her hands and drink. Then, she slowly started to free her hair from the braids. When they were alone together, Rûsa simply loved to move his hands though her hair, claiming that it felt as soft as silk for him.
"Tell me, my Warg Rider, what do you see? Just close your eyes and describe it to me…"
From where he hid behind a large tree, Rûsa blushed yet also smiled at the sight of what Maeglin was doing. She tempered him to reveal himself, that much was clear, but given what sort of event it was going on around them, he would not be the only male Elf around who tried to not fall for his chosen lady's not-so-innocent charms.
"The heavens are sparkling with starlight tonight, that's what I see through your raven-black eyes, my blacksmith princess."
Maeglin smiled when she picked up the sound of his voice. He was close by. Loosing her purple silk scarf from the waist, Maeglin moved the scarf along her neck and hair as a unspoken promise to Rûsa of what she could offer to him tonight. Even if they had promised to not cross the line and become a married couple until a proper wedding night, it did not mean that they had to remain fully chaste. Finding one anothers' weaknesses spots could be very useful on the wedding night.
"Far longer than forever, as constant as an enteral star of Varda on the night sky, I close my eyes and I am where you are…"
Rûsa heard Maeglin come closer to where he was. He started to back away in order to hide once more, but a low-hanging branch stopped him thanks to getting stuck in his crown. While Rûsa could have taken off the crown and hide somewhere else, it would rob Maeglin of the pleasure to finding him like this, awkwardly stuck.
"Now, how did you end up stuck like that, silly fox prince?" giggled Maeglin at seeing how he was trapped. Giving her a awkward smile in embarrassment, Rûsa looked almost like a child for a moment. Well, logically it was not too far off: in many ways, he had somehow remained a young, confused and very scared child mentally back in Angband even as his body had grown into a adult because of that he had been emotionally stunted as a result of his life as a slave. But here in Aman, where he had gotten a chance of a real childhood and mature emotionally, he had grown up in more ways than more.
"Let me get you free from that crown so we can enjoy some time together instead of running around like this."
Holding up her hands, Maeglin carefully freed Rûsa from the stag crown and used her scarf to gently pull his face closer to her own for a kiss. Rûsa did not protest, instead he obeyed the silent command.
"As my lady wishes," he smiled before giving her the desired kiss. As they kissed, he placed his arms around Maeglin's body. Just the mere touch of her lips against his own were enough to cause a storm of different feelings inside him. It was so intoxicating, in a way he had never felt during his life in Angband. Rûsa knew there was a very high possibility that he had inherited the hot-blooded passion of his maternal ancestors and his father Taurion that could dull his common sense when it came to romantic moments like this one, but he would do his best to ensure that he and Maeglin did not end up doing a serious mistake that they would regret afterwards. He might finally be of age now, but Rûsa held a frim belief in doing his courting of Maeglin correct this time instead of how it all had started between them in Angband.
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Author's note: Given that Frëja is a dwelf with a 152 cm tall Dwarven mother and a 180 cm tall Elven father, it is pretty difficult to say exactly what height she would be, but 110 cm is 3,6 feet so it seemed logical with that. According to a friend's calculations, an average 7-year-old (in human years) dwarf girl would be about 101.7 cm tall, whereas the average height of elf girls at the same age is about 133.5 cm. Thus, Freja's height should be something between 101.7 cm and 133.5 cm. Frëja is also calling Fingolfin for great-great-uncle, seeing that he is a brother to her great-grandfather Fëanor.