The wind over the bay of Eldamar strengthened slightly, fluttering the sail of the small fishing boat. "Time to adjust the sheet," said Teleporno, the Telerin Mariner tutoring the House of Feanor in the arts of the sea.
Feanaro moved over between Carnistir and Maedhros, and began working at the cleat. "You haven't cleated this right," Feanaro complained to Carnistir, finally managing to loosen the sheet.
"I did exactly what Teleporno showed us," said Carnistir, going a little red.
"No, you've got the-"
Which is when the wind gusted, and pulled the thoroughly loosened sheet free. It whipped right past Maedhros. He lunged and grabbed it, only to be jerked off his feet and hauled over the side by the pull of the sail. Something caught his foot as he went over, but Maehdros had bigger worries. He let go of the sheet as he hit the water.
The water was black beneath the surface, and Maedhros was briefly disoriented. Then his sense of up and down kicked in, and he struck out for the surface. With two hands, it was only a few seconds away. Then he was up, blinking water and wet hair out of his eyes just in time to get a faceful of wave. Maedhros resurfaced, coughing and spluttering. This time, he sorted out where the next wave was coming from and rode it properly.
The ship was now about five boat lengths away, and receding fast with Teleporno and Maedhros' brothers on board. An armslength away was Feanaro, looking like an angry seal. Oops. "We'll wear ship and get you," yelled Teleporno. Maedhros looked at the rapidly-retreating stern of the ship and thought they'd better. At least the land was within swimming distance if those on the ship lost track of them in the dark.
A squeak startled him as something solid and smooth slapped itself into one swimming hand. He looked over and blinked. A dolphin had come up right next to him. He remembered then that the Teleri had a very strong friendship with the local dolphins. "Do you want to take me to the ship?" Maedhros asked.
The dolphin squeaked, and pulled him forward. Maedhros let the strange creature do so, though he looked over to his father, seeing that the exact same thing was happening with him.
Meanwhile, his brothers were now bringing the Cygnet around. It then headed back roughly in their direction. The dolphins towed them directly to the ship, which was a good thing. Even elven eyesight might have had trouble finding a couple of elves in the sea at night. They struggled aboard, hauled up by Tyelko and Carnistir.
Teleporno whistled and clicked at the dolphins, and opened a small box near the mast, taking out a couple of pieces of dried fish and throwing one to each dolphin. The dolphins caught the fish neatly, and one of them followed it up by doing a backflip out of the water. Makalaure threw a towel at Maedhros, who grabbed it and tried to wring the worst of the water out of his his hair, only to feel something wriggle against his scalp. He froze, then reached in and pulled out... a fish about two inches long. They looked at each other, and the fish flipped from between his fingers and landed on Maedhros' lap. Maedhros retrieved the fish, and dropped it over the side.
Tyelkormo started howling with laughter. "Nice catch, Russandol," he finally managed, in between chuckles. "You should join the fishing boats. We wouldn't need bait with you around."
"I see even the fish can't resist your hair," said Makalaure, smiling.
"It's the color," said Tyelkormo more seriously. "The Teleri use fishing lures that are only a few shades paler and bri-"
"If you are quite finished," said Feanaro, "let's get back to sailing." Of course, his father's hair had remained entirely fish-free.
"Makalaure and Tyelkormo, yes." said Teleporno. "Maitimo, how are your hands?"
Maedhros held his hands up. "Fine. I lost my grip on the sheet."
"Any line can give you rope burn or even cut your hands open as it rips itself out of your grip," said Teleporno. "Be glad this isn't a full swan ship. The larger the sail, the stronger the pull and the worse you're likely to injure yourself. You and King Feanaro should dry yourselves off somewhat before doing anything else, and get into dry clothes. The water isn't all that cold, but hypothermia isn't something to mess with." Maedhros shivered at that, because Teleporno was right. At least the water was far warmer than Losgar or Araman. The only real injury was to their pride.
That evening, Nolofinwe greeted his half-brother and king with an amused expression. "I saw you getting better aquainted with Lord Osse today. Hear any news?"
Feanaro glared at his younger brother. "No, not a word."
Nolofinwe smiled back, but he did start to change the subject.
Until Tyelkormo grinned, and stage whispered to Irisse: "...but Nelyo makes a great fishing lure." Which meant Makalaure had to tell everyone about his accidental catch. In verse.
Feanaro glowered, obviously not wanting more attention on the incident than needed, but everyone else laughed, including Maedhros. When was the last time Makalaure had skewered him in verse? Before Thangorodrim. Ah.
Of course, three days later Nolofinwe managed to break his steering oar on a log. That night at supper Feanaro couldn't stop smirking or making little allusions to the incident while Nolofinwe ignored him and cut up his tuna with more force than strictly neccessary. Maedhros caught Findekano's eye, and rolled his eyes heavenward. Findekano choked on the mouthful of tuna he was eating, then tried and failed to look innocent as Feanaro and Nolofinwe both turned suspicious glares on him.
Over the next few months, embarrassing misadventures in the Bay of Eldamar turned into short trips carrying supplies to the various outports along the coast, and finally, to circumnavigating Tol Eressea. The Noldor as a whole would likely never match the Teleri as mariners, but at least they were no longer a menace to themselves and any ship they crewed.
Maedhros was a little surprised that absent kinslaying, ship-burning, and storms driven by enraged Maiar, he was actually growing to like the ocean. It was quite beautiful under the stars, and the little lights that some of the sea creatures held, and the green fires they created when an oar or swimmer entered the water were strange and fascinating.
Tyelkormo, of course, took to fishing with enthusiasm, and was soon regaling the dinner table with tales of "Oh that was nothing, you should have seen the one that got away! It had eyes the size of dinner plates, and the tentacles..." Tyelpinquar had got a model boat from somewhere and would not stop playing with it in any available pool of water, where he was promptly joined by Itarilde and a gaggle of other children.
When not learning the ways of ships and the sea, the Noldor smithied weapons, bargained for food and other items with the Teleri, and trained for war.
Which was how Maedhros came to find himself lying on his stomach in a tree, his bright armor and hair covered with dull cloth, face and hands smeared with dirt and charcoal. Below and to his left lay a path where Findekano's company was travelling to the field where they were expecting to fight. The path was within the war zone, and Maedhros had thought to teach the Eldar about the use of ambushes in warfare. Makalaure had not been at all keen on the idea of getting charcoal and mud in his hair, but he'd done it and Maedhros expected results to speak for themselves.
Findekano's company loomed out of the dim mist along the path, and Maedhros suppressed a sigh. His cousin had not put out any scouts, and their wooden practice weapons were still sheathed. This was almost too easy.
He waited until approximately half the 'enemy' force had passed, then raised his hand to give the signal to those nearest him. Then he hooted like a barred owl. Tyelkormo answered with much better intonation, and the attack began. Arrows tipped with bags of chalk hailed down from the trees onto Findekano's company. As the confusion peaked, Maedhros cried: "Charge! Aure enteluva!"
He and the other swordsmen leapt down from the trees and onto their confused relations. The fight did not last long. Maedhros brought his wooden sword down on the banner bearer, 'killing' him. The banner fell, clouting one of Findekano's guards on the shoulder on the way down. Maedhros looked to his left just in time to see Findekano go down under a spear thrust to the back from someone unidentifiable while trying to fight both the Ambarussa at once. Within another 10 seconds, the battle was over. Findekano's company had been annihilated, while Maedhros' had taken one, two... perhaps three dead and seven non-fatal casualties.
"What was that for?" said the downed herald. "You're supposed to be on the field, not jumping us on the path like we were some animal you were hunting."
"Nobody actually said that," said Maedhros. "Ambushes are a very effective method of combat in terrain where visibility is limited," he gestured at the dark, mist-shrouded forest, "and can allow one force to defeat another with very few casualties – or a smaller force to defeat a substantially stronger force. All sides of the war in Beleriand use them."
"How do we avoid getting ambushed, then?" said Findekano, sitting up and rubbing his back.
"You need to put out scouts ahead and to the side, to check that the trees, the hills, a ravine, or the rocks aren't full of hidden enemies waiting to jump out at the worst possible moment. If the scouts find an ambush but aren't detected, it is sometimes possible to ambush the ambush. At worst, you don't get taken by surprise. If you put out scouts and they don't come back when expected, you know you have a potential problem."
"You could have just told us that," complained the herald. "I thought we were going to be fighting a pitched battle." Maedhros wasn't sure of his name, but he hoped the elf gained a clue or Findekano found a different herald before they got to Middle-earth.
"I could, but this way you'll remember it when you see this kind of terrain again, you'll put scouts out, and you won't end up in Mandos' Halls. It isn't as if Moringotto will send you a letter telling you he plans to ambush you this time. No, he'll say he wants to parlay..." Maedhros broke off, and Findekano winced as their eyes met.
"Did you see Moringotto ambushing us?" asked Tyelkormo.
"I've been on both the receiving and the giving end of ambushes," said Maedhros. "I prefer to be on the giving end."
"I can see why," said Findekano. "I think my dear brother Turukano needs this lesson, too, don't you?"
"Everyone does," said Maedhros. "One way or another."
A/N: Aure entuluva is Quenya, and means "day shall come again". It was Hurin's battle cry in the Nirnaith Arnoediad, and seems like an appropriate battlecry for Maedhros to pick in this Oath-free world that will soon acquire a sun. I also think it is beautiful. It's overkill for wargames, but oh well...
Teleporno is an attested Teleri name used for Celeborn by Tolkien in one of the more obscure writings in the History of Middle-earth books. I have am using it since there aren't many known Telerin names and I am using the standard assumption that Celeborn is in Middle-earth and living in Doriath at this point.
I have little skill or knowledge in nautical matters, so I have been depending heavily on my beta for information on ships and sailing. The mistakes are my own.
Replies to people not logged in:
Guest: Yes, logistical issues are better than a kinslaying.
Dream Plane: Some, maybe. There's always someone who gets carried away in the heat of the moment.
Kemeri: Thank you.