Meeting of different cultures
It felt very nice to be able to have a long sleep-in since they would not travel again until the next day. Yuë always tried to get up early in the mornings if he had a very good reason for it, but it was not the easiest of tasks for him. Today, however, it was not just Rûsa waking him up:
"You need to get up now if you want to avoid risking to miss breakfast with our hosts…that cat is still alive?"
A huge feline, black as a raven wing and showing no signs of age, was sitting on Yuë's stomach area as the younger brother just had woken up from its weight making it difficult for him to breathe.
"Ancalagon, shoo. You are not allowed to do that on our guests outside my annoying son-in-law," Dior ordered to the cat at seeing why Rûsa had not entered the guest room, and even tossed a cat toy so Ancalagon jumped off the bed, chasing after the toy.
Are he a Maia like Huan or just one of those creatures who gets a very long lifespan because they have some form of origins in the Woods of Oromë? Yuë wondered, sitting up now when there was no huge cat on ten kilos holding him down.
"Well, Anca is a northern breed as seen by his body build and long fur, but since those cats have been found in northern Valinor since the Elves first arrived and your uncle brought Ancalagon to us from the Woods, I can not say for sure what our furball to mousehunter really is."
And Dior had a good point. Both Rûsa and Yuë had visited the Woods of Oromë together with their uncle Celegorm several times over their lives, and where Oromë ruled, animals would hardly be called normal.
I will wash quickly and dress before coming.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
After breakfast, the two married couples agreed to help out about the clothes that Dior had wanted to get rid of yesterday.
"No joke about that you are desperate to clean all those out. Really, just how many of them are in a different colour than blue?"
It was not that Maeglin had black and grey as her favorite colours, she simply wore them most often in the forge because on other colours, the soot would be visible pretty quickly.
"Far too few," Nimloth commented dryly, as she began to fold the clothes together so that they could be gathered in smaller piles that were easier to place in a carriage. Just in case, Dior had to test out some of the robes and clothes to make notes about how long they were, likely materials they had been made from and other details that the Dwarven merchants would appreciate to know.
"Seriously, the length of this one...do they intend for you to basically just sit still and be unable to move, while watching others dance or something?"
Rûsa held up a long robe that looked like it had been very complicated to make, and to wear as well since it was cut and sewn in a matter that was aimed to not allow any fast walking or sudden movements. Dior made a displeased face at seeing what it was.
"Oh no, no, no. That awful court robe meant for my grandfather's court down in the south is going, no arguments!"
A female variant, meant to be a court dress for Nimloth, was refused as well. Maeglin could recall one time when she and her maternal relatives had been sent to Thingol for a state visit, and personally been grateful for that the Noldorin fashion was less restrained on movements. Those who had once lived in Exile, or been born in Middle-earth during the First Age, tended to favor clothing that did not restrain movement and as simply made as possible. Practical clothing, not something to impress others with as a sign of wealth or social standing, because in war and other times of crisis survival was the most important.
While Rûsa and Maeglin helped Dior and Nimloth to sort through all the refused robes and clothes of blue fabric to bring to the Dwarves to sell, Yuë took the chance to do some dance training. He would have loved to be out in the fruit garden since the sun had returned this morning, but the rain from yesterday had made the ground muddy and he did not want to risk slipping in the mud so he injured himself in some way. In the small breaks between each dance he tested out, he sat down and made a few poems.
"Those runes...it is Cirth, right? But I guess that you are writing it as meant to be read in Khuzdul."
Dior had taken a small break, arriving with a few of the garments to see if Yuë might be able to wear them, and maybe having the garments resewn into something he could wear as a dance attire during the contest.
Yes. Despite being mute, I have heard the Stone Children of Aulë speak their language around my family since I was a toddler, so I think that I should be able to speak it if I could use my vocal cords thanks to training on the words mentally and I am able of speaking with them though their sign language as well. Ammë and cousin Celebrimbor insisted on that, since not all the Dwarves are as fluent in Quenya or Sindarin as Narvi or the Dwarven allies Ammë had from Belegost.
Recalling how his own grandfather Thingol nowadays had a deeply rooted phobia of Dwarves thanks to how he had died, Dior said nothing about his mental image of how Thingol possible would react if he ever heard someone in the Fëanorian family speaking the language of the Dwarves.
"Those are among the smaller garments I was gifted, and since the tailors at the court of my grandfather have no idea of which sizes that I actually have on my clothes, we thought that you could try them."
As they tested the garments Dior had brought along, it quickly became clear that Yuë, having a short stature by elven standards, were not tall enough for those. He was of a thin body shape, but still physically fit because he needed to keep himself in shape for his dancing, it simply was not as visible as his brother's muscle mass since Yuë needed to cover his skin from the sun.
Might as well give all of the garments away. If I am to have a new dance costume, then I want it to fit properly and not be hasty altered since clothes are part of the impression a dancer gives to those who watches.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
The next morning, the now expanded travel group on five Elves continued the journey. Dior and Nimloth had chosen to ride their own horses instead of using a carriage, so they all shared the burden of having a bag packed with the sorted garments as part of their luggage.
During the journey, Nimloth took the chance to enlighten the three Noldor Elves about how things had once been in Doriath during the First Age, and what differences she found out now in their second life, having time to study how the Noldor had ruled Beleriand:
"Personally, I think that lord Finrod had a better success with Nargothrond in terms of trade and power. With all the brothers and cousins having a realm for themselves or sharing with a sibling, it meant a shared language and origin for all the Noldor realms."
As Maeglin added in on how life had been in Gondolin, all five did agree that it was a pure miracle that Turgon's hidden realm had survived on its own without any contact or trade with the outside world. After all, Maeglin could tell how with time, the people in Gondolin had not been as pleased with the isolation as Turgon might have believed. In fact, she was hardly the only one who longed to leave the Hidden City again despite the dangers from Morgoth, Rog and many others Exiles who knew a life before Gondolin, felt trapped in the valley.
"I think, that had not its Fall happened as it did, my uncle would have faced some form of hidden revolt eventually, where people chose to escape from Gondolin somehow."
She did not mention it, but Rûsa knew that Maeglin had been captured by orcs and brought to Angband while trying to plot a possible escape route where Turgon would not think about looking for his niece directly at the news that she was no longer in the city or valley itself. The red haired son of Maedhros looked away for a moment, touching the V-shaped scar on his left cheek as a silent reminder to himself that his three younger half-siblings was best off to never know about his horrible past as the Warg Rider.
"Speaking about lord Rog...Rûsa, are you aware of a new theory about why you looks different from your siblings?"
That caught the brothers' attention, though for different reasons.
If it is the same one that claims that I am not Atar's son because I am a albino while he is dark-skinned, I do not want to hear it, Yuë requested with some disapproval though the use of Ósanwë.
"Nonsense, all that stupid gossip because people are too slow-witted or ignorant of how it was to fight Morgoth, to try and imagine that our family were not bloodthirsty monsters from the beginning! If you look past the skin colour and actually look close, it is clear that Yuë have inherited the green eyes and face of his sire, I am merely looking different because ammë offered to be the new mother of someone who was about to be reborn and the stay in Mandos did not ease out the look I had in my first life!" Rûsa snapped over his shoulder in a surprisingly aggressive tone. Thankfully neither Dior or Nimloth was offended, it was a similar reaction to how they could respond about the legendary Quest for the Silmaril nowadays if someone was foolish enough to mention it, with how Luthien and Beren actually had caused a lot of trouble for their only child and the other Elven realms in the long run.
"Alright, enough of that. We need to increase the pace a little if we can ride as far as possible today," Maeglin commented, taking the lead as she set off in gallop on her mare, the other four following her.
After seven days, they were finally there. The Dwarves had made a entrance to what today might call their domain in Valinor, near the Mansions of Aulë. As a tribute to the original they once had done in ancient times of peace, so had Celebrimbor and Narvi made a copy of the Doors of Durin, with the same password and all, now guarded by Dwarven soldiers to ensure that no unwelcome visitors were trying to sneak past. There had been some cases of Elves trying to cause trouble, sadly, as such, all Elven visitors had to register their names and reason for entering in a large look to keep a eye on them.
"Oh ho! Maedhros the Orc-Scourge's sons with company, it have been a while since you two lads were seen here! Still no wee one for you and your painter to husband, lady Maeglin?" one of the Dwarven guards commented at seeing who they were.
"Not everyone wants children directly after the marriage," she responded in good humour, while Rûsa pretended to not have heard the question at all. Of course there was some surprise over that Thingol's grandson and his wife was travelling with the sons of Maedhros, but when Maeglin helped Dior, acting as a interpreter, to explain in Khuzdul why he and Nimloth had came along, the Dwarven guards laughed.
"Sounds like you will have a nice payback if his gifted clothing will end up being remade into clothes for the royal families and nobles."
After writing their names and reason for the stay in the register book, they were allowed to enter the Dwarven realm inside Valinor.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note: I imagine that since Maedhros, after recovering from Angband, grew to become a great horror for orcs to face in battle, she is known as the Orc-Scourge among the Dwarves