Category: Tolkien-Universe

Rating: M

Couples: Canon Ones

Warnings: AU

Chapter: 16

Copyright: Characters & places © By Tolkien Estate, Plot & OC´s © by me

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Ulmo considered the ice-shoal that was halfway to Harad. Manwë's son - and wasn't that something he still had to get used to, that there were little kid-ainurs now! The boy had declared he wanted to test his prowess against the heat of the far South, after yet another argument with Cilinaril.

Which meant that someone had to watch him to make sure he didn't get in trouble... and apparently the parents would cheat and move him along further. So Manwë had turned to the water-dwelling uncle for help, which left him with most of his attention on a random ice-shoal on a southern current. He was regretting not just deputing one of his Maiar for this, but had been unable to refute his King's statement that this could - probably would - have been his had he been the one to get a child. Ice was a short step from water, after all.

Nixëlca was reading a book - Eru knew who had entrusted a book to a child on an ice-voyage - traveling along the coast of Beleriand, having just passed the small bit of left-over Lindon-shoreline.

"Uncle?" The small form peeked over the edge of the ice, down into the deeps.

"Yes?" He manifested just enough so the white-haired form could tell he was there.

"What's this word?" They learned fast, these new arrivals in Eä, and grew almost faster than that. Cilinaril, at about seven years since birth, was only outpaced by Men in his physical development-speed.

"Mmmhhh..." He turned his attention to the book, careful to both keep it dry and to not move the ice along too fast and be the one accused of cheating. "That's a name, Adûnaic, I believe."

"Oh, that explains it." Manwë's son muttered, tilting his head. "Why is there an Adûniac name in a book written in Quenya? I thought elves loved translating everything they could get their hands on?"

He shrugged, which manifested in to waves that bounced his nephew back and forth briefly. "You'll have to ask the author of the book." He sank back down with a chuckle, unable to fail noticing that the shoal had spontaneously grown to at least twice the size it had been before. Both in surface-area, but also in thickness. He suspected it might add a couple miles to the journey.

"I might." The Maia was in the perfect middle, clutching the book to his chest. As if he'd risk the wrath of whichever librarian had loaned out that book by throwing it in the water. "Don't do that!"

'Sorry.' He let himself sink into the current, following along half a mile below the surface. Fixing-frost was happening more regularly by now, he could tell. But they were getting well past Umbar, so soon Nixëlca would have to permanently be freezing his mode of transport to keep up with the warm water he was in.

It helped little that above, Arien was passing along at her highest point.

'Should I move you to a current back to Taniquetil?' The Lord of the Waters asked, nudging at the ice-raft.

"Not yet!" Despite being more than capable of all forms of ósanwe, the young form just yelled the answer at the nearest wave, attention almost fully on the book rather than the ice-sheet.

'There's ships nearby.' Who would rightfully wonder at this barely-no-longer toddler on an ice-shoal on a southern current. And probably try to fish him out of the Gulf of Umbar, out of common decency regarding safe childcare.

"It's fine! I'm fine!" He was subconsciously still keeping up with the maintenance, but the Vala below him was really starting to wonder how long that'd last during these temperatures. At least the Maia himself seemed to have no averse effects from the heat, so there was that?

He was going to have to fish him out, wasn't he?