Celebrimbor was helping Narvi to make things for the lunch, when they heard a sudden crash and then a following howl of pain from the outside.
"Rûsa?!"
His younger cousin was lying almost flat on the stone path leading from the garden gate to the front door, trembling in a manner which normally was the only signs of crying Rûsa allowed himself to show.
"What happened? Did you trip?"
Rûsa looked up, meeting Celebrimbor with a seriously uncharacteristic teary face for being him, and then he started to bawl again in pain. And no wonder really, Rûsa had been unlucky enough to trip on a slightly raised edge of one of the flagstones, hitting his face and front teeth rather badly.
"Oh dear, it looks like we need to have someone look at his teeth and see what needs to be done with them, I know that one of my fellow Dwarves, who are visiting Formenos this week, is a dentist and should be able to better help us than a Elf."
"Because we never rarely loses any teeth outside the milk teeth during our first decade in life, right?" Celebrimbor asked, trying to calm down Rûsa who actually seemed a bit afraid of the mere mention of someone touching his teeth.
"I dont wanna have my teeth pulled out!"
No doubt that he must have been thinking of something far more unpleasant from his old life in Angband.
"No one is going to pull out your teeth, Rûsa, that is only done as one last resort if there is nothing else that can be done."
His reborn cousin did not really believe Narvi, and Celebrimbor could hardly fault him for that.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Thankfully, they could get a check-up almost right away when Narvi explained the errand.
"Aye, trust kids to someday end up in a situation like that. Now, lad, can you open your mouth for a little bit?"
Rûsa shook his head in protest, still crying where he was hold firmly by Celebrimbor in his arms so Rûsa could not run away.
"He is a reborn, and I believe this pain might have triggered some painful memory of getting his teeth pulled out with pliers or some other unpleasant punishment."
That was at least something Celebrimbor could tell without any questions being raised.
"LET ME GOOOOOO!"
Finally, after some minor wrestling between the two cousis and Narvi blocking the doorway just in case the Elfling did manage to get loose, did Celebrimbor manage to Rûsa in a better hold, sitting down on the floor with crossed legs.
"Sorry, a really bad memory…."
The unusual couple knew that Rûsa did not really mean to cause trouble at the moment, it simply was linked to things he wanted to forget and never need to experience again.
"Like a feral cat ready to bite and claw for getting free," the other Dwarf joked in good humour, before carefully lifting up Rûsa's upper lip since it was the front teeth which had been hit, and and used a small magnifying glass to get a better look.
"Nothing too serious, but I would recommend a few doses of coating medicine for healing any possible cracks which can be too small to see even with this. Have the lad eat liquid food today to avoid unnecessary pain in his mouth, and something cool to soothe the pain in his gums as well."
Celebrimbor was too busy with trying to calm down Rûsa, who still expected things to change any moment and fearing to get his teeth pulled out.
"We was thinking of buying some watermelons from the food market today, so I can make some nice sorbet."
~X~X~X~X~X~X
And some parts of one watermelon was served to Rûsa, once they had returned home, while Narvi mixed up the rest to make a refreshing sorbet as a treat in the summer warmth.
"That was not too dangerous, do you not agree, cousin?" Celebrimbor asked, drinking some cold water from a goblet. Rûsa, who already had one small watermelon piece in his mouth and thus had some difficulty to speak properly, muttered something which Celebrimbor guessed as:
"I still do not want anyone to touch my teeth!"
"But you will allow us to help you place that coating medicine on the right teeth, I hope? Even with a mirror, it can be a bit tricky because your hands might cover the right place."
Rûsa only nodded, showing that he still was not in a trustful mood currently because of the memories triggered today. But at least he had escaped from any really bad injuries, that was the most important.
